Harry Potter and the Dragon's Heir, Year 3 - The Prisoner of Azkaban
by Khodexus
Summary: Harry Potter, rising star of Slytherin, must contend with his greatest challenge yet. Sirius Black – first ever to escape the wizard prison Azkaban – is on his way to Hogwarts, just to kill Harry. As if he didn't have enough to deal with already. Slytherin!Harry, AU, Severitus (Mentor). Sequel to Harry Potter and the Dragon's Heir, Year 2 – The Chamber of Secrets
1. The Affidavit

**Year 3 – The Prisoner of Azkaban**

**Chapter 1 – ****The Affidavit**

**Chapter Summary:** Harry Potter's summer plans are marred only by his looming court date. But if Harry is not looking forwards to this, it's nothing compared to his aunt's and uncle's reaction to the news.

**Author:** Khodexus

**Rated T:** For occasional graphic concepts and atmosphere. No cussing, no adult situations, no violence.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any rights for the worlds or characters in Harry Potter. Those rights are owned by Scholastic Publishing Inc and J.K. Rowling. I do own the rights to my original characters depicted here, in as far as they differ from the worlds created by J.K. Rowling.

_**Note:**_ This is the sequel to **Harry Potter and the Dragon's Heir, Year 2 – The Chamber of Secrets**. It is highly recommended you read **Year 1 – The Philosopher's Stone**, and **Year 2 – The Chamber of Secrets** first.

* * *

Harry thought his aunt and uncle were secretly plotting to murder him.

As his parents had been killed when he was just a year old, Harry was forced to live with his only remaining relatives the Dursleys; Petunia (his mother's sister), Vernon (her husband), and their son Dudley (Harry's cousin) at number four Privet drive. The real problem, was that like his late parents, Harry was a wizard. And his relatives wanted absolutely nothing to do with magic. While his aunt and uncle had tried everything they could think of to repress his talents, Harry had proven resilient to their efforts.

To make matters worse, Harry was becoming increasingly proficient with magic because he had been attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry over the past two years. His relatives were growing more and more wary of what they thought he might do to them if they upset him too greatly. Harry had even dropped some subtle hints of the kinds of things he _could_ do so that Vernon had – white faced – allowed him to hold onto his books, and even his broom instead of locking them away as he had at the start of the previous summer. But Vernon had warned him sternly not to be seen using any of them. Technically he wasn't allowed to use magic outside of school until he'd come of age, but his relatives didn't know that, and Harry wasn't about to tell them.

Most days there was a silent tension throughout the house that gave Harry a mild headache. While other days neither Vernon nor Harry could hold back the criticisms and threats. So far, their arguments had escalated no further than shouting, but Harry knew it was only a matter of time before someone exploded.

The greatest test of Vernon's patience, was when Harry finally brought up the letter he had received just before the end of his last school term. It had been an Order to Appear, from the Ministry of Magic. His uncle was going to have to drive him to London at the end of June, and the worst of it was, that he had to accompany Harry inside the magically concealed Ministry building, since Harry was still underage.

Vernon had been livid when Harry brought this up, and the yelling match that had ensued only ended when Petunia pointed out that the neighbors could most likely hear them. Harry didn't want to go to London with his uncle, any more than Vernon wanted to have to go inside a building full of wizards, but in the end, there wasn't much either of them could do to change the situation.

Instead, Harry tried to concentrate on more pleasant matters. He let his owl, Hedwig, out of her cage only at night, and was very discreet with all of his magical things. Wizards used owls to carry mail, and Harry had been communicating with his best friend in the whole world, Draco Malfoy. Draco had promised Harry a grand birthday celebration on the last day of July, and Harry was coming to visit Malfoy Manor a week before the party. He planned to stay there until the end of summer vacation, as he certainly had no wish to return to Privet Drive.

Typically, Vernon would have been happy when Harry was gone, but then, he opposed just about anything that Harry actually wanted, especially if it involved wizards. Petunia, on the other hand, would miss him for the chores he wouldn't be doing, if nothing else.

Harry had plenty to do to help the Malfoys get ready for the party. He couldn't visit yet – if he'd had his way, he would have spent the entire summer at Malfoy Manor, his second favorite place in the world, after Hogwarts – but he was counting down the days, even the minutes, until he could leave Privet Drive behind for another year.

But even from here, he could write invitations, and correspond nightly with Draco and his other school friends about the party plans. Frankly, he was a bit surprised by how much work he was actually doing. He'd never realized just how much planning went into a party like this, even though Petunia entertained as often as she could. The Dursley's parties were simply a world apart from the grand celebration the Malfoys were preparing for Harry, now an honorary member of the family.

And, that was another thing that his relatives held against Harry.

Since Harry had come home for the summer holiday, Privet drive had been plagued by one particularly enthusiastic house elf, named Dobby, who absolutely adored Harry Potter. Dobby was now allowed to serve Harry in the same capacity as he served the rest of the Malfoy family. House elves by nature were discreet, but Petunia had noticed when chores would be completed while Harry was busy elsewhere, and for some reason took great offense at the idea that magic was no doubt responsible for these occurrences, and that was simply one more reminder of everything they hated about Harry and 'his sort'.

Dobby insisted on doing any of Harry's chores he could find time for, and only allowed Harry to do his own laundry because he was incapable of taking clothes without permission, a permission which Harry refused to give. If the house elf was ever gifted clothes by his master, he'd be freed from his contract of servitude, which, Harry had come to learn, had been empowering elven magical abilities for generations.

Harry was tired of the complaining, snide remarks, and arguments with his uncle.

But before he could escape Privet Drive, he had to appear in a wizard court, and had to figure out some way to get Vernon through it without killing anyone. Before the end of June, Harry received another black envelope from the Ministry, this time to inform him that the date of his appointment had been postponed. Harry and Vernon had another two and a half weeks now, but Harry didn't honestly see how it would help anything. Having more time to brood about it would certainly not improve Vernon's mood.

When the newly appointed day finally arrived, Vernon woke Harry early, and barely spoke to him as they ate breakfast and walked out to the car. Vernon was a large man, with small eyes in his face, which were now narrowed in hostility as he drove in silence, glaring at Harry sitting in the back seat from time to time in the rear view mirror.

A surprise was awaiting Harry when they arrived at the guest entrance to the Ministry building. A well-dressed gentleman in a snappy blue, silk, three-piece suit, his long silver beard tied neatly in front of him by two golden clasps, was standing at the curbside next to a red telephone box. As they pulled up alongside him, Harry realized with a start, that the man was none other than Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, as he'd never seen him dressed before. He looked more like a banker than the most respected wizard of the age.

"There you are, Harry, and Mister Dursley." Dumbledore greeted them both, then faced Harry's uncle fully, "As Harry's legal counsel, I can be his escort. With your permission, of course." He said very politely.

"What does that mean, precisely?" Vernon growled.

"It means I can take him from here, you need not accompany him inside, unless of course… you wish to."

Vernon thought about that for a long tense moment then finally nodded, "Where do I wait? When do you expect to be done? I don't want to be kept waiting out here all day."

"Do not worry, Mister Dursley, I shall ensure that he is returned to Number 4 when we are finished." Vernon was so obviously relieved that Harry almost chuckled, but he knew his uncle's nerves were stretched so taught that even that might set him off. Still, his uncle thought about it, and opened his mouth as if to argue, but then turned and got back into his car. He drove away without a backward glance, and Harry gazed up and down the street for a moment before facing Dumbledore. "So, what am I supposed to do in there, exactly?" Harry asked.

But Dumbledore gestured for them to walk together down the sidewalk. "Actually, your court date has been postponed yet again, I'm sorry to say. But I wished to speak with you, and this seemed the perfect time to do so." The headmaster informed Harry.

"Oh. Why does it keep getting postponed?" Harry asked as they turned the first corner.

"Lockhart's legal team is quite slippery, and well paid to be so. They can likely bog down this whole mess for years, though that could do as much damage or more to his reputation than the facts we can prove, were they to be made public right away. I suspect he will find a way to end the proceedings before too long."

"I hope it ends sooner than later, I don't want to have to keep coming back here for years and years. But on the other hand I hope he doesn't get away with it either."

"It is possible things could drag on for some time, though being who you are, a student, and the famous Harry Potter, I imagine even the strictest court official will be somewhat lenient with you. Hopefully, the demands on your time should be minimal."

"Can't I just tell them what happened? What Lockhart told me he'd done? I'll swear it after drinking veritaserum."

"I'm afraid that testimony through truth potions is not admissible in courts, Harry." Dumbledore tsked. "There are those who are able to fool such a test, it is not wholly reliable. I will help you sort through this, you need not fear. But, on that subject, perhaps we should head inside."

"I thought you said my court date had been postponed?" They rounded another corner, and Harry tried to recall if this was the second or third corner they'd turned.

"It has, but as chance would have it, you did not receive the notice, and here you are. We might as well try to accomplish something so long as you are here. No point wasting the trip now, is there?"

They came to a stop in front of the same shabby red telephone booth where they'd started, and with a little effort, they both managed to squeeze inside. "How's this supposed to work?" Harry wondered aloud, staring around the cramped space. It was even shabbier on the inside. In fact the telephone itself was hanging rather crookedly.

Dumbledore didn't answer, merely tapped his wand against the decrepit phone, causing the dial to spin crazily to one number then the next. A moment after it stopped a cool female voice emerged from the depths of the leaning box. "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Bri…" Dumbledore began.

"Ah, Master Dumbledore, how may we help you today?" The woman behind the voice cut in smoothly and with a friendly tone.

Dumbledore looked mildly perturbed that he'd been interrupted before he could finish relating his long list of names and titles, but quickly shrugged it off and continued. "I'm here with Mister Harry Potter to speak with Madam Bones."

"Thank you. Mister Potter, please take the visitor's badge and attach it to the front of your robes." There was a rattle as a small metal object – the badge in question with the words _Harry Potter, Visitor to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement_ on it – emerged from the coin return chute of the phone. While harry was pinning it to his shirt (he hadn't actually worn robes that day), the voice added, "Mister Potter, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."

"Okay." Harry spoke to the lady for the first time.

"Steady, Harry." Dumbledore admonished, a moment before the floor began to rumble, and then they, along with the wood beneath their feet, began to descend, past the pavement, down through the pitch dark earth, and finally into the momentarily blinding golden light of the Ministry entry hall.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day." The woman's voice told them as Dumbledore stepped forward and waited for Harry's eyes to adjust so he could follow.

Idly, Harry wondered if at some point, he would see and be awed by the largest most impressive entry hall in all of England, so he'd stop having the same mouth-gaping reaction every time he discovered a new one. Hogwarts Castle had a truly massive entry hall, and the entryway at Malfoy Manor was extravagantly furnished, if not quite as big. But the Ministry of Magic outdid them both.

Behind them the telephone box door closed, and the whole thing rose back upwards, but Harry was busy looking around the grand hall with its polished wood floor. Among the first things to catch his eye was the deep purple ceiling that was covered in glowing sigils – the source of the golden light – which were constantly shifting and changing. Harry wondered what the purpose for them were. There were also rows of fireplaces flanking the main hall, each set into a green marble pillar with gilded grating. Harry recognized immediately they were connected to the floo-network, a method of travel widely used in the wizarding world. A few gratings at the far end of the atrium opened and closed only infrequently as people emerged through them. But most of the gratings were constantly open, so that every few moments – when the flames turned green and a wizard or witch appeared in the fire with a harmless whoosh – they could step out into the atrium in time to let the next witch or wizard through without running into them.

As he and Dumbledore started walking along the hall, the headmaster's fancy suit melted away, revealing his regular, well-worn, rather rumpled wizard robes. About halfway along the hall, they started to pass by a large fountain with a pool of water, at the center of which stood a set of statues depicting a witch and a wizard with their wands raised skyward, a centaur, a goblin and an elf around them. Most of the statues were staring at the witch and the wizard with ridiculously adoring expressions, and Harry almost laughed. But suddenly he realized it probably wasn't meant as a joke.

Harry turned away and tried to pretend the image didn't bother him, as they continued strolling across the hall towards a large impressive looking gate. But Dumbledore steered them aside before they reached the gates, to a desk set away from the walkway, behind which hung a sign that read SECURITY.

The clean-shaven wizard manning the desk dropped his copy of the _Daily Prophet_ and leapt to his feet as they approached, "Professor… I mean Chief Mugwump Dumbledore… sir!" He seemed torn between bowing and offering to shake Dumbledore's hand, and settled for examining Harry nervously instead.

"I've brought Mister Harry Potter to meet with Madam Bones."

"Yes, certainly, let me… I just… need to see your, er… wand." He smiled apologetically at Harry, and kept glancing back and forth between him and Dumbledore as Harry drew his wand from its concealed sheath, and handed it over. He placed it on a device that much resembled a set of scales, but with one dish.

The device hummed gently before emitting a slender roll of parchment from the base, which the guard read off aloud, "Eleven inches, phoenix-feather core, been in use nearly two years. Is that correct?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded.

"Here you go." He said, handing the wand back, and impaling the parchment on a spike that already held several others. After that he swept a thin rod along either side of Harry's frame then nodded. "You're all set. I'll send a note ahead to let Madam Bones know you're here."

"Thank you, Charles." Dumbledore acknowledged, and steered Harry back into the press of traffic heading towards the gates at the end of the hall.

That led them into a large room with lines forming in front of about 20 gilded grills. Harry and Dumbledore made their way through one into a lift while Dumbledore exchanged greetings and comments with various people they passed. Everyone here knew him, and it seemed he was far more well-liked than Harry could have guessed.

But in the lift a young girl who ended up close by Harry kept staring at him, then began tugging on her mother's sleeve, and pointing.

The lift ascended slowly, and the same voice from the telephone box rang out once it stopped at the next level. "Level seven, Department of Magical Games and Sports, incorporating the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, Official Gobstones Club, and Ludicrous Patents Office."

"Look, mama." The girl was whispering, trying to get the woman's attention. Harry looked around nervously. A few others in the lift were starting to glance around to see what the girl was whispering about.

"Level six, The Department of Magical Transportation, incorporating the Floo Network Authority, Broom Regulatory Control, Portkey Office, and Apparation Test Center." The same voice announced. At each stop some of the occupants of the lift departed, while others got on, along with some paper airplanes zooming in and out overhead.

"Look at his scar!" The girl said a little louder. "It's _him_!"

Harry sighed, and resisted the urge to try to flatten his unruly hair down over his forehead to hide the lightning bolt shaped scar there.

Harry was very famous in the wizarding world. As an infant, only a year old, one of the most dangerous dark wizards of all time had come to his family's home to kill him. Harry's father had been killed, and his mother had sacrificed herself to protect him, causing the Dark Lord Voldemort's murderous magic to backfire. Voldemort had all but died, and Harry was left unscathed except for his now famous scar.

They called him 'The-Boy-Who-Lived', and though Harry privately was annoyed by all the fame and attention, he had decided to allow people to believe he might enjoy it. That's what a pure-blood Slytherin would do, afterall.

Harry wasn't quite pureblood. Though both his parents had been magical, and his father was from a prestigious house, his mother – as his aunt and uncle frequently reminded him – had been an abnormality in their otherwise non-magical family. Harry wanted to live up to the Potter name, not just due to his father's heritage, but also because he hoped doing so would help him, when Voldemort inevitably returned.

"It's not polite to point." The girl's mother admonished.

"But, mama!"

"Level 5, The Department of Magical Cooperation…"

"It's Harry Potter!" The girl pointed and stared as if she'd just discovered the most wonderful thing in the world. "It's him, it's him, mama…"

"You know I can hear you, right?" Harry said, and the girl squeaked, startled, and hid behind her mother.

"Pardon my daughter, Mister Potter." The mother said politely.

"It's fine." Harry offered with a smile and a shrug. "I get this a lot, actually."

Several other people were now openly staring too, and Dumbledore just smiled at their exchange.

"Level 3, The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, incorporating the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Obliviator Headquarters, and Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee." The doors opened and the girl's mother led her by the hand from the lift.

"See you, Harry!" She called back to Harry with a wave.

Harry waved back, then looked up, and saw that there were more the paper planes than there had been before, and when he pointed them out to Dumbledore, the headmaster smiled, "It's something new the Ministry has been trying. Interdepartmental memos. Significantly easier to clean up after than owls."

"Ah." Harry nodded, and a moment later they arrived at level two, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"Here we are, Harry. You ought to wait here in the sitting room. I'll go speak with Amelia." Dumbledore told him.

Harry took a seat in one of the wide but uncomfortable wooden chairs, and waited. He had just enough time to wonder how there could be windows in the sitting room if they were underground when Dumbledore returned, along with a middle aged witch with short graying hair and a no-nonsense set to her jaw. "Harry, this is Madam Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Amelia, this is Harry Potter."

"A boy who needs no introduction, surely." Madam Bones gave Harry a polite nod and a subtle smile. "It is fortunate you made it in today. I haven't filled my schedule, and so I have time to take your affidavit. Shall we?" She gestured for Harry to follow her, and with Dumbledore taking up the rear, they proceeded deeper into the department. They passed through a pair of doors with a plaque that read, "AUROR HEADQUARTERS", into a large room sectioned off into cubicles. They continued across the room and paused in front of a large corner office at the end of the hall. "Arthur, you're not busy. May we borrow your services for a moment?" She called out to a man down the hall.

"Actually, I just received a whole stack of papers from Michael down in…"

"It will only take a moment, we just need another witness for Harry's affidavit here."

"Harry?" Arthur blinked, and looked at Harry. Recognition bloomed immediately on his face which broadened into a bright grin, "Harry Potter! How are you?" Harry had actually met Arthur Weasley once or twice. He was the father of two of Harry's best friends, the twins – Fred and George – who were two years ahead of him at Hogwarts. The Weasley clan had inherited their bright red hair from their father. And while Arthur and Lucius Malfoy – Draco's father – clashed constantly over policy in the Ministry, the truth of the matter was that Mister Weasley had generally seemed kind to Harry. Harry got the feeling they probably would have been friends except for his association with the Malfoys.

"I'm fine, Mister Weasley." Harry offered a friendly smile.

"My sons have been telling me about your adventures last year at school, is it true that…"

"Mister Weasley, may we continue this inside?" Madam Bones gestured for the three of them to precede her into her office.

"Yes, of course." Arthur blushed apologetically.

"Please take a seat." Harry and Mister Weasley sat down in a pair of comfortable chairs across a large desk cluttered with paperwork, as Dumbledore conjured a plush armchair and sat down a little behind them.

"So, uh… what's an affidavit?" Harry asked, wondering just what would be required of him, and conscious that Arthur looked on the verge of repeating whatever question he'd been about to ask in the hall.

"It's an official statement and testimony. Usually testimony is given in an active court session, but as Dumbledore said, we don't want your trip to go completely to waste. The law allows for testimony to be given in written form during unusual circumstances. Chances are you'll be busy with school again before too long, so this will be better for everyone involved."

Except for Gilderoy Lockhart, Harry recognized the unspoken subtext.

"That's brilliant!" Arthur observed.

"Yes well, convenient might be the more _appropriate_ term." Madam Bones corrected, suppressing an amused smile.

"That sounds easy enough." Harry agreed with a smile of his own.

"So Harry…" Arthur turned on him briefly, but Amelia immediately cut him off.

"Arthur, I know you have many questions for Harry, but let us get this legal business out of the way first, shall we?"

"Oh yes, of course." Mr. Weasley nodded, and turned to face his Department Head.

Madam Bones withdrew parchment and a quill from one of the desk drawers, along with a vial of ink. Then she cast a charm on the quill, and it hovered over the first page, waiting for Harry, it seemed.

"Now, I want you to understand, you are not on trial here. I want to make certain Mister Lockhart meets whatever justice he deserves. No more, and no less. Just state the facts as you remember them, and we will do the rest." Madam Bones explained. "Do you have any questions before we begin?"

"Just; where should I start?" Harry asked, eyeing the hovering quill, and glancing at Dumbledore. He was supposed to keep certain things secret, and he hadn't had a chance to ask if anything of what he'd told Dumbledore the previous year should be left out of his affidavit.

"They do not need the details of your entire 'investigation', Harry." Dumbledore answered Harry's unspoken concerns. "Simply the evidence you found that led you to confront Lockhart, and the details of that encounter."

Harry nodded, and cleared his throat, "Start by identifying yourself." Bones instructed, then gestured to the quill. It dipped itself into the inkwell, and moved back to the page.

"My name is Harry James Potter." Harry began.

He spoke carefully, and deliberately, recalling each event and planning what he wanted to say before saying it. His voice and the scratching of the quill were the only sounds in the room for a long time, as he described the things about Lockhart's behavior that had first made him suspicious that something wasn't right. How Lockhart had seemed confident, and even charming, but how his lessons never quite went the way he seemed to expect, and how his competency with advanced spells never matched what he'd claimed to have done in his books.

He eventually got to the harrowing encounter where Harry had planned to trick Lockhart into exposing his secrets (he left out the part about attempting to use illegally brewed truth serum – that he hadn't even needed – to get Lockhart to confess). He didn't describe the encounter word for word, but did explain that he'd asked leading questions, and once Lockhart realized that Harry was on to him, Lockhart started bragging about everything he'd done, and then told him he was going to erase Harry's memory of the entire school year. In fact, Lockhart had already started the incantation when Snape had entered through the closed door with a disarming spell. "It was only the timely intervention of Professor Snape that saved me from Lockhart's curse."

He trailed off there. He didn't know really what had happened to Lockhart after he'd left the room.

"Is that the end?" Madam Bones asked, and Harry nodded. "Then finish with, 'This statement is as truthful and as accurate as I can make it. Signed, Harry James Potter.' "

Harry repeated her words, and watched as the quill wrote them down followed by a line for his signature beneath his name.

Dumbledore then cleared his throat and added, "Witnessed by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and acting escort and legal counsel for Harry James Potter."

"And, Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and Chief Prosecutor." Madam Bones cut in.

And Arthur similarly added, "And, Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, and Notary Witness."

The quill scratched out those lines too, and then Dumbledore handed the quill to Harry. He stood up, and looked over the document briefly, before signing on the line. Then Dumbledore took the quill back and added his signature, followed by Madam Bones and Mister Weasley.

"Well, we're done here. I'm sure the court will have some interesting things to say after seeing this." Madam Bones stood, and shook both Dumbledore's and Harry's hands. "It was a pleasure, Master Dumbledore, and you as well Mister Potter. Thank you for your contribution, Arthur."

"Likewise." Harry agreed.

"I suppose I really should get back to work." Arthur said, apologetically, "But maybe you and I can get a chance to talk another time."

"I'd like that." Harry agreed. "Fred and George are still coming to my party, right?"

"Party?" Arthur blinked.

"Yeah, I've never really had much of a birthday celebration before, so Draco decided to help throw me a grand birthday party on the thirty-first of July at Malfoy Manor. Fred and George were among the first people we knew we had to invite."

"That sounds wonderful. I'm sure they'll have loads of fun."

"Thanks!" They exchanged one last smile before Harry turned to depart with Dumbledore.

On the way out, Harry felt the tension tangibly drain from his body, leaving him worn out. He hadn't realized just how nervous he'd been during the weeks leading up to this, but now that it was over, he just hoped it would be a long time before he was called upon to deal with the legal mess surrounding Lockhart again.

"Well, it looks like we have a little time to spare. Care for a sundae?" Dumbledore asked as they re-entered the lift.

"I'd love one!" Harry beamed.

With any luck, he wouldn't have to speak to his relatives again regarding these events for the rest of the summer.

* * *

"Those 'friends' of yours aren't planning on showing up at our door again, are they?"

Harry had just come down the stairs for breakfast about a week later, to find Vernon waiting in ambush around the corner in the hall.

"No. I'm going to meet someone at the bus station, and travel to the Manor from there." Harry was happy to tell his Uncle.

Last year when he'd visited the Malfoys they'd turned up in an invisible carriage, and the interactions between his family and theirs had not been very pleasant for either side. Draco had even threatened to curse Dudley if he found out he was being mean to Harry, but Vernon hadn't yet learned of this from his son, and Harry certainly had no intention of enlightening him.

"Good." Vernon nodded after thinking it over for a moment, "Good!" He repeated, then turned away and went to the kitchen table to eat breakfast.

Harry smiled, but quickly hid the expression. It occurred to him that if Vernon knew exactly how Harry was 'traveling' to the manor from the bus station, he might have a fit. Harry had only traveled by floo-network a couple of times, and he much preferred flying on his broom, but it was fun to imagine the expression of horror on Vernon's face if he ever watched Harry disappear into a fireplace in a rush of green flames.

It was the third Saturday of July, two weeks before Harry's birthday, when he received a somewhat distressing letter from the Weasley twins.

Dear Harry,

You know we said we'd love to celebrate your birthday. But our mum isn't too keen on the idea of us heading over to the Malfoy Manor. Draco's alright, but his father and ours do NOT get along. They're always at odds, like you saw at Flourish and Blotts last year.

Perhaps we can celebrate a second time together a few days after your birthday. Would that be okay?

Your best friend, and your bestest friend,

Fred and George Weasley

P.S. If Errol is looking faint, please give him some water before sending him home, but no food. Don't want him flying on a full stomach.

Errol was the Weasley's owl, and he was a bit of a scraggly bird, barely able to manage his duties much of the time. It was evening, so Harry didn't feel any need to wait to send his reply. In his room he let Errol drink some water from Hedwig's cage, as he got out parchment and his writing supplies, and quickly scratched out another letter with his quill. He wanted to plead with them, but ultimately decided to be diplomatic, and simply accepted their apology, and of course agreed that they could get together sometime after the party.

Harry was surprised, when a couple of days later, he received another letter from the Weasley's owl. This one was even more apologetic, but explained that after constant nagging (the best way to win over their mum, apparently), Molly Weasley had finally consented to allow them to celebrate with Harry. "We are 15 afterall, and fully capable of looking after ourselves." They wrote. Besides which, it seemed their father had been telling everyone at the Ministry that his sons were attending Harry's birthday party, and they'd explained to their mother that it would make their dad look bad if they didn't show up, "Plus, Lucius can't do anything _sinister_ to us, since everyone already knows we will be there."

Nothing could ruin it for him now, he was sure. And the remaining three days until his departure were far too long to wait.

* * *

On Thursday, Harry woke quite early, despite the fact that his bus didn't leave until that afternoon. He packed his trunk and stacked his books and extra bags on the lid before perching Hedwig's cage right on the top of the pile. He planned to instruct Dobby to take his things to the Manor with magic, and had only a small book bag set aside for his ride to the bus station.

He dressed, with his wand hidden in its sheath and covered by the back of his shirt, and went down the stairs for a light breakfast before getting started on the last of his chores for the summer, he hoped. Things were going fine until Petunia discovered chores finished that Harry hadn't actually had a chance to get started on yet.

"This is the last time, do you hear me?" Petunia's bony frame did not fill the hallway door like her husband's did, but her long neck and horse-like face produced a shrill whisper that grated on the ears more than a shout would have. "You will not use your strangeness in this house. Don't give me any excuses, heaven forbid anyone _saw_ you."

Even though she didn't raise her voice overly, her shrieks still drew the attention of Harry's uncle. "What's going on in here?" He came from the other end of the hall, boxing Harry in.

"He's been doing two chores at once!" Petunia hissed.

"Is this true?!" Vernon raised his voice as he turned back to Harry.

He could have denied it, and tried to explain Dobby, but Harry was certain _that_ revelation would only make things worse, so he kept quiet.

"We put up with enough of your… your funny business as it is. If you can't be civil and keep to yourself where decent folk won't see you, we'll be forced to take drastic measures." Vernon growled out.

"Don't threaten me!" Harry spat right back. "I didn't do anything! You've no right to complain, as long as the chores get done, and no one sees anything, what does it matter?"

"Don't take that tone with me, you ungrateful… Where do you think you're going?!" Harry had had enough, and turned away, slipping easily past his aunt and towards the stairs.

"Anywhere but here!" he shouted over his shoulder, marching straight up the stairs and slamming his bedroom door. He threw himself onto his bed on top of the covers without bothering to kick off his shoes, and lay there for a moment just staring at the ceiling. But laying in the heat of his room with his family just yards away on the other side of a few thin walls wasn't helping his mood, so after a couple minutes he got up, and slipped quietly down the stairs, out the back door, through the garden, and out the side gate.

It was a hot summer day, but there was enough of a breeze to gradually cool his simmering temper as he walked down Privet Drive towards the next street.

Even after he calmed down, Harry didn't feel like returning to the house, and figured he'd just wait until it was almost time to leave for the bus station. He found a place to lie in the grass of a nearby field, and must have dozed off; because the next thing he knew, he was startled awake by the sound of a car backfiring loudly in the street in the direction of his relatives' home.

Harry checked his watch, and saw that he still had plenty of time, so he dozed back off for another hour. He woke again when the sun was directly overhead and it was too hot to stay put. So he got to his feet and brushed bits of dried grass off of his clothes, before starting back towards Privet Drive. He took his time, as he didn't want to linger once he got there, and schooled himself into a neutral expression as he walked up to the front door, and strolled through casually.

His Aunt and Uncle were in the living room along with another couple Harry didn't recognize. Petunia and Vernon gaped and stared at Harry when he walked in the door, and it took a moment for either of them to speak.

Just as Harry was about to pass out of sight into the hall, Petunia called, "Harry!" He found it odd, since she didn't usually like to draw attention to him when they were entertaining company.

Harry paused and took a step back to glance at them through the doorway.

"Is this your nephew, Harry?" The thin man on the couch asked. "You haven't told us much about him."

"Yes, this is Harry…" Vernon confirmed.

"Did you just come in from… outside?" Petunia asked.

"Yeah." Harry didn't glower, but he wanted to.

"Did… did your friend from school find you?"

Harry blinked. Something very odd was going on here. "Find me?"

"Yes, your friend from school." Vernon cut in, "He arrived a couple hours ago, and we sent him up to your room to find you…"

"You sent him…?!" Harry's eyes widened, but he forced himself to keep calm, "No, I haven't seen him, he might be…" Harry trailed off; the only person he could think of that would be visiting from school was Draco.

"Oh, I'm sure the boys are keeping each other entertained upstairs." Petunia's guest suggested, as Vernon's and Petunia's expressions became slightly more alarmed.

Harry hoped his cousin was still alive.

"I guess I'll go check on them now." Harry walked calmly out of view, and then took the stairs two at a time, and emerged onto the landing only slightly winded. He was about to go check his room first, when he heard voices coming from Dudley's room. It took an effort not to groan, imagining whatever Draco had been up to all this time.

"I see it!" Harry recognized Draco's voice.

"No don't, no you're gonna…!" Dudley's voice sounded panicked.

For all that he hated Dudley – Harry had one hand on his wand, ready to draw it in defense of his cousin as he opened the door and entered the room. But the sight that greeted him stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Awww! I told you…" Dudley was sitting in a chair next to his computer desk, while Draco's blonde head was visible over the back of Dudley's desk chair. Another boy sat on Dudley's bed. All three of them had their attention fixed on the screen of Dudley's prize computer, where the words 'GAME OVER' were displayed in blocky letters.

"I'm out of continues too." Draco leaned back in the chair, pulling his hands away from the keyboard.

"It's my turn now!" Dudley's friend stated. None of them, apparently, had noticed Harry yet. And Harry was so stunned by the scene in front of him that he couldn't think of a single thing to say.

"I thought I did better that time." Draco said, getting to his feet, and allowing the unfamiliar boy to occupy the seat.

"I still can't believe you've never played a computer game before." The boy now sitting at the desk shook his head at Draco. Harry guessed he must be related to his aunt and uncle's guests downstairs.

As Draco turned, he finally spotted Harry. "Oh hey, Harry. How come you never told me these things were so much fun?"

"It just… never occurred to me… I guess…" Harry said lamely, realizing something was required of him.

"Harry doesn't really play on my computer." Dudley explained, his expression looking suddenly a bit strained.

"How did… what are you…?" Harry was still trying to fathom exactly how such a situation where Draco and Dudley were even remotely friendly to one another could have occurred.

"It's nearly time to go, isn't it?" Draco asked Harry.

Harry checked his watch. "Yeah… you're right. The bus leaves in twenty minutes." He observed.

"Good timing then, I guess. I just finished a round." Draco announced proudly, and then turned back to Dudley. "Maybe I can try again next time I visit."

Dudley took a moment to think about it, but his friend seemed to like the idea so he shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."

"Alright. Dunno when that'll be, but it could be fun, right?" Draco added. Dudley nodded, and Draco offered a polite smile, before he slipped past Harry and out the door.

Harry quickly ducked into his room and grabbed his book bag, then he followed Draco down the stairs and together they waved a hurried goodbye to Harry's relatives, and their guests, and soon were jogging down the street.

They were almost to the corner when Harry again found his voice, "What on earth are you doing here? How did you even get here?" He asked Draco, still a bit confused by the situation.

"Oh, when you mentioned you were going to the bus station, I remembered the Knight Bus. So I flagged it down, and rode it right up to your street. Father wasn't real happy about the idea of me on the Knight Bus, even though he gave me permission to travel with you to the bus station. But I came because I wanted to make sure your relatives were treating you all right."

"Is that why you were in there with Dudley?" Harry asked, panting a little as they jogged across the street towards the bus stop.

"Yeah, I was thinking about threatening him again, but I was curious when I saw him playing that game on his… what is it called again?"

"Computer?"

"Yeah that. Anyways, I couldn't threaten to curse him with another muggle in the room, so I watched for a bit then I asked about the game."

"Did my aunt let you into the house?"

"Yeah, they had company, so they sent me up to find you, but you weren't in your room, and that's how I ended up in your cousin's room instead."

"But… how did you get Dudley to let you play on his computer?"

Draco shrugged in response to that, "I think it was mostly Jacob. I guess your cousin didn't want to be impolite in front of a guest either. I didn't think I would enjoy it, to be honest, but it was a lot of fun, even though I'm not very good at it."

They reached the bus stop just as the bus was pulling up, and Harry paid the bus fare for himself and Draco, before finding a seat near the back so he could talk with Draco in low tones without being overheard. They weren't supposed to let muggles, what wizarding folk called those with no magic, know about all the magical things going on in the world.

Harry thought about changing the subject, even though he still couldn't fathom how Dudley and Draco had actually been getting along, but Draco was still talking, even while Harry's mind spun.

So Harry let Draco continued to describe the video game he'd played, involving a barbarian warrior who fought goblins, zombies, and even an evil wizard, but eventually the subject turned to the bus they rode in.

Draco thought the muggle bus was fascinating. "The Knight Bus is much faster, and it's got a section with dining tables and another with beds. But I never realized before that muggles had buses too. How do they get it to move without magic?"

"It runs on a motor, which burns gasoline to turn the wheels." Harry explained, "I'm pretty sure muggles invented motor cars and buses. If wizards use them too, they probably got them from muggles."

"Muggles certainly have a lot of interesting ways to get by without magic." Draco observed.

"I suppose they do." Harry shrugged. The things muggles did were not all that interesting to Harry, but Draco seemed to have no end of questions for him, and Harry resigned himself to talking through Draco's unusual mood.

At the bus station, things were perfectly normal. At first. Harry had received instructions where to go, and what to say. He bypassed the normal ticket taker, and found a man in a security uniform standing in front of a door that said 'STAFF ONLY'. He gaped the moment he laid eyes on Harry – or more precisely his scar, not quite hidden by his unruly hair. "You're… Harry Potter?!" He gasped.

"Yes, I am." Harry realized some response was required. "And this is Draco Malfoy. We need floo-passage to Malfoy Manor."

"Of course, of course." The man nodded, and glanced around, before opening the door at his back and leading Harry inside.

The room beyond the door was a small suite of offices, and the front room, a moderately sized lobby, had a fireplace large enough for a tall man to stand up in. Harry wasn't as tall as all that, and neither was Draco, but after paying the man a few knuts (wizarding currency), he threw a small handful of the powder he'd just purchased into the fireplace. The orange flames leapt up, turning an emerald green as Harry stepped forwards into the now heatless fire. He then spoke the words, "Malfoy Manor!" as clearly as possible.

In the next instant, the green flames surrounded him, and as had happened the last time he'd traveled by floo powder, he found himself whisked sideways through the air. Fireplace after fireplace blurred past his vision, until he emerged into the Malfoy's entry-hall, and quickly stepped down from their hearth. The fire flared once more, and Draco appeared behind him. "Dobby." Harry called out to the apparently empty chamber.

"Dobby is here, great Master Harry!" The house elf popped into existence at Harry's elbow, gazing up adoringly at Harry with his large bulbous eyes. He was an imp of a creature, with no hair, and large floppy ears, and a sack that he wore instead of clothes. Harry was happy to note that Dobby was looking well. On account of disobeying the normal rules for house elves the last year – trying to save Harry's life – he'd had to punish himself more than normal, but the signs of his punishments were fading, and there were no new visible bandages.

"Dobby, I need you to get my things from my room at Privet drive." Harry explained.

"Dobby has done so, sir. Is there anything else Dobby can do for Master Harry?"

Harry supposed he shouldn't have been surprised that Dobby had anticipated his request already. "No, that'll be all. Return to your duties." Harry said.

Once Dobby had gone, Harry shook his head, but stared after him with a fond smile.

"You're spoiling him." Draco told him. "You're supposed to be stern with house elves."

"I can't be stern with Dobby." Harry complained, "He's just so… pathetic. Besides, he still gets all his work done, doesn't he?"

"Yeah. And he's been better than he was last year. At least according to Father."

Harry nodded, and the two of them quickly headed up the stairs to make sure Harry was settled in. Their next order of business, was to get out their expensive brooms and go outside to practice quidditch, which as far as Harry was concerned, was the greatest sport in the world. Witches and wizards played the game flying on broomsticks throughout the world, and there was even a world cup. It was dangerous, exciting, and Harry was famously good at it. He'd been the youngest student in a hundred years to be accepted onto a house team at Hogwarts. And Slytherin House was known for having great quidditch players.

Harry had a mixed relationship with the other students in house Slytherin. On the one hand, most of his closest friends – with the exception of the Weasley twins – were in Slytherin. But Slytherin also had a reputation for training some of the darkest wizards in Europe. Salazar Slytherin, one of Hogwarts' four founders, had prized ambition, cunning, and power, and so those types tended to be sorted into the house he created. All these things had led many Slytherins to becoming great witches and wizards, but they were also the sort of qualities possessed by some of the most infamous individuals in wizarding history. It was true, that Voldemort and many of his followers had come from Slytherin, but Harry knew there was a lot of good in his house too.

Harry hadn't been able to practice quidditch at all while he'd stayed with the Dursleys, so now he wanted to make up for lost time. Draco was also on their house quidditch team, though Draco planned to try out for a different position this year, and that was the focus of their training over the remaining week before the party.

* * *

July 30th – the day before Harry's birthday – arrived, and along with it, another letter from the Weasley twins. Their family had won some kind of raffle, and they were already vacationing in Egypt. They were quick to assure Harry that they'd still be coming to his party, even if they had to sneak away on their brooms. But more likely they'd find a way to use an international floo line like they had for Christmas the previous year.

Harry just hoped whatever they did, they didn't get in trouble, and was otherwise happy to know they'd still be attending. "If anyone deserves to win a raffle, it's those two." Harry observed, as Draco read the letter over his shoulder. There was a newspaper clipping from the Daily Prophet included with the letter. A photo of the Weasley family with a pyramid in the background was at the top of the clipping, and the article beneath it explained in greater detail about the raffle, and how the Weasley's had used their winnings to vacation in Egypt where their eldest son, Bill, worked as a cursebreaker for the goblin-run wizarding bank, Gringotts.

"It's just a shame that git Ron is profiting from their good fortune too." Draco said snidely.

Harry noticed that a good portion of the article was actually about him, as a 'friend to the Weasley children attending Hogwarts'. But as Draco had just pointed out, Harry couldn't really count all the Weasleys as friends.

Neither Harry nor Draco liked Ron Weasley very much. And the feeling was quite mutual. They'd butted heads at school from the moment they'd all first arrived, though a large part of that was due to the animosity between the patriarchs of the Weasley and Malfoy families, who worked at the Ministry of Magic together, and held wildly differing views on how best to promote wizarding laws.

The other part of that was Ron's best friend, Seamus Finnigan. He was a sandy-haired Irish boy who had also taken an instant exception to Harry. He liked picking fights, insulting Harry and his friends, and was probably the only person in the world Harry disliked more than his cousin Dudley, who had bullied him up until they both had learned Harry was a wizard.

But Harry didn't want to think about them right now. Tomorrow was his thirteenth birthday, and it was shaping up to be the best birthday of Harry's life.

* * *

**Author's Comments:** This was an interesting and fun chapter to write. I had several scenes I'd originally written for this chapter that I ended up moving to the next chapter, including the birthday party, because there ended up being a lot more I needed to happen in this first chapter before I could get to that.

Anyways, I hope you all thoroughly enjoy the opening to the third installment of this series.

Once again the copyrights for the Harry Potter worlds belong to J.K. Rowling. All original characters depicted here and this story are copyrighted to me.


	2. Harry's Wizarding Birthday

**Year 3 – The Prisoner of Azkaban**

**Chapter 2 – ****Harry's Wizarding Birthday**

**Chapter Summary:** Harry enjoys what's left of his summer vacation, as well as the grandest and most impressive birthday party of his 13 years. But there is something unsettling going on, something it seems they don't want him to know.

**Author:** Khodexus

**Rated T:** For occasional graphic concepts and atmosphere. No cussing, no adult situations, no violence.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any rights for the worlds or characters in Harry Potter. Those rights are owned by Scholastic Publishing Inc and J.K. Rowling. I do own the rights to my original characters depicted here, in as far as they differ from the worlds created by J.K. Rowling.

* * *

The noise was awful.

Harry hadn't realized Malfoy Manor had a room this huge, or that – no doubt aided by magic – nearly four hundred people could fit into a chamber even as cavernous as that. According to Draco it had once been a ball room. But it hadn't been used for that in a very long time. For Harry's party, it had been redecorated within an inch of its life.

Even with the magical extension charms, it was very crowded. Harry had some space to himself, but there were by far too many people there. All his classmates from school, and their families and their friends were in attendance it seemed. It wasn't just Slytherins either. The Weasley twins had arrived to greet him with identical grins promising mischief, as had a number of other prominent Gryffindors.

Some of his school mates who didn't even _like_ Harry had shown up, such as Lee Jordan, a boy two years ahead of Harry, who had once threatened him after a quidditch match. Lavender Brown, and Parvati Patil were both Gryffindor girls in Harry's year, and Parvati's twin sister Padma who was in Ravenclaw, had come too. Harry's quidditch rivals, Cedric Diggory, and Cho Chang were also both there. They played seeker for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, the same position Harry played for Slytherin.

Each new arrival meant Harry had to greet another guest – most of whom he'd never encountered before – smiling broadly and repeating the same formalities until he thought his face might crack. Amelia Bones, for instance, was there with her niece Susan, a Hufflepuff in Harry's year at school, and they both greeted him warmly, though a few of his classmates parents and relatives Harry had already met at a Christmas party he'd attended two years ago with the Malfoys, and he even managed to remember their names, for the most part.

Lucius and Narcissa introduced Harry one by one to many of the important guests that Harry didn't yet know. One of those was the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, who'd leaned close when shaking his hand and whispered, "You alright, Harry?"

"Of course I'm alright." Harry had replied.

The Minister had then given him an odd but enthusiastic smile and asked, "Well, why shouldn't you be?" and wandered off chuckling to himself.

Harry was beginning to wonder why he'd ever thought inviting everyone he knew and everyone _they_ knew to his party was such a good idea. At least most people seemed to be enjoying themselves. He had only to glance at his presents to gauge just how many faces he'd greeted so far.

Harry was building up a small hoard of gifts arranged haphazardly next to the largest cake he had ever seen. Magic was the only explanation he could think of for how it stayed standing under its own weight. A few of his presents had been mailed to him, rather than presented by his guests as they arrived, and they were somewhere in the well organized chaos of his gift pile. Organized chaos seemed to be the nature of the whole party. The Malfoys, particularly Narcissa, were in rare spirits, playing host and hostess with refined precision and seeming to enjoy every minute of it. There were only a few names on the list yet to arrive when Narcissa informed Harry that they were going to move on to the next phase of the party; without waiting for those who had chosen or been forced to come 'fashionably late'.

Harry was grateful for a chance to sit down, and enjoy a few light courses of the meal that had been prepared. He knew, of course, that the servings were deliberately small, as the point wasn't to fill oneself, but rather enjoy the taste of each item as it came. _Everything_ was tasty at Malfoy Manor, but _tonight's_ dishes were particularly exquisite.

The relative calm was briefly interrupted by a pair of explosions in two of the punch bowls. The hosts took it in stride and laughed it off, immediately whipping out their wands to clean the table cloths and a few nearby guests before anything could stain. Harry glanced at the twins with raised eyebrows, but they just shrugged at him innocently.

Conversations throughout the dinner segment were on a variety of topics, including a good natured debate over the latest articles in Transfiguration Today, and another over whether the newest commercial broom would give this quidditch team or that quidditch team an edge over their rivals. Afterward, there was an interlude where people stood chatting for a time, and Harry moved among them listening and occasionally joining in while they awaited what was coming next.

Dancing. That was the part he'd been secretly dreading. But Narcissa and Lucius had ignored his hints that dancing might not be such a good idea. Draco had been no help of course, telling his parents about how Harry had been taught to dance by their prefect, Gemma Farley, during their Christmas party at Hogwarts the previous year.

But Harry was distracted from his trepidation as he began to realize that a number of conversations would cease abruptly when he approached, and when this happened the people who'd been talking would avert their gaze, for some reason Harry had not yet managed to discern.

Harry wondered what the problem could be. Did he look ill? Was it obvious to everyone else that he wasn't enjoying the party as much as he ought? He caught a look at his reflection in a well polished platter on the refreshments table, but he couldn't spot anything wrong. Though a little uncomfortable, Harry was still very happy with his birthday party. The Malfoy's had outdone themselves to give him not only the best party he'd ever had, but also the best he'd ever heard of. Harry had to smile wondering what the Dursleys would think if they could see him now.

Harry tried to put his nerves aside, and concentrate solely on enjoying himself, but then while he was sampling an appetizer, he chanced to spot Lucius speaking with Minister Fudge, and overheard his name. "Harry needs to know." Lucius said softly, and Harry made sure to keep his head down as he edged closer.

Lucius was a taller, older version of Draco. They shared the same white-blonde hair, the same aristocratic features, and the same cool intelligent blue eyes. Only Lucius kept his hair long and was rarely seen without an ornate black cane topped with a silver snake head.

"Yes but, we don't want to worry him unnecessarily." Fudge countered. "And, what if Harry went after him? How would _that_ look?"

"I would be worried about far more than just appearances, if Black caught up to Harry." Lucius contended.

Harry shivered as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end, now deathly curious what they were talking about. He'd heard of the Black family once briefly at school, and the only thing he knew about them – aside from the fact they were filthy rich – was that the head of the family was purportedly locked up in the wizard prison, Azkaban, from which no one had ever escaped.

"There you are, Harry!" Harry jumped nearly out of his skin at the familiar voice of the Slytherin Prefect, Gemma Farley. The blonde-haired girl with eyes nearly the same green shade as Harry's was four years older than him, and had always kept a stern eye on the younger Slytherins at school. That was what prefects did.

"Uh, hello Gemma. I hope you're enjoying the party." Harry turned with a drink of something in his hand that he couldn't recall having tasted – though it was already half gone.

"I am. This is really an amazing party. But I'd expect nothing less from the famous Harry Potter, especially with the Malfoys as hosts." She flashed him a pleasant smile, and he found himself smiling in return, not quite as uncomfortable as he'd been a moment before.

"They've got music going, and I see you're standing around like a lump. Am I going to have to drag you onto the dance floor again, or are you going to ask one of those pretty girls who've been watching your every move?"

"Who, where?!" Harry looked around quickly. And sure enough several girls close to his age were watching him, but they averted their gazes when they saw him looking, except for Annalise Priest.

Anna was a brunet girl – a year younger than Harry – who wore glasses, and liked to talk a lot, particularly about things that made her sound intelligent or important. Harry had met only one other person who read as many books as Anna claimed to, but Hermione Granger hadn't accepted his invitation to the party. Which was probably a good thing, Harry supposed. She would have been the only muggleborn witch there.

"Go on. It's your party. You should be seen dancing. If it would make you more comfortable, I can be your first partner, but I really think it would be best for you to ask someone closer to your age." Gemma urged, and Harry was torn between irritation that she was pushing him to do this – again – and being grateful that she'd distracted him from his nerves, if only for a moment.

Harry was still hesitant, however, and Gemma stepped up beside him as he surveyed the various options arrayed around the dance floor. "You look absolutely terrified, if you don't mind my saying?" She whispered.

"I don't know who to pick." Harry croaked out.

"Whoever you'd like to dance with." Gemma shrugged. "Your friend Pansy has already been dancing with young Mister Malfoy, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind dancing with you too. She's also a safe bet since everyone knows she's friends with you and Draco, and the last thing you want is for people to read too much into whom you pick and why. Of the others, I'd say the Carrows or Daphne Greengrass have been eyeing you the most. So either of them would also be good picks. It's ultimately up to you, however. It's just a dance, and the more girls you dance with, the less any one of them will be jealous of any of the others. You wouldn't go wrong picking a non-Slytherin either, like Susan Bones over there, or Cho Chang, both of whom have been watching you from time to time with at least mild interest."

"They have?" Harry wasn't really into girls yet, or romance for that matter, but he wanted to do things right, and that meant keeping his manners impeccable, and impressing his peers, whether they were students in his house and year, or otherwise.

He was at the stage that he was aware he was _going_ to be interested in girls. But other things had taken priority in his life up to that point. Such as learning he was a wizard on his eleventh birthday, and nearly getting killed by Voldemort twice in the last two years.

To be fair, the specter of Voldemort that had possessed his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher his first year at Hogwarts had been more interested in reviving himself to full power with the philosopher stone than in killing Harry. And the memory of Voldemort concealed within a Diary that had opened the Chamber of Secrets the year after, had wanted at first to purge the school of muggle-born students, and later to recruit Harry as an ally. But Harry knew that if Voldemort ever found out how much Harry wanted him dead, that Harry himself wouldn't survive very long thereafter.

"Don't think too hard about it." Gemma added, drawing him back from his memories. "Go with what feels natural, and make your decisions quickly. As I said, the last thing you want is for people to read into your choices too deeply, and they're more likely to do that if you spend a lot of time deciding. If you can manage it, I'd dance with them all."

"All of them?" Harry gulped.

"As many as you can." Her smile was friendly, but with an uncharacteristic mischievous glint. "Unless there's one girl in particular that you're interested in?"

"What? No…" Harry countered immediately.

"Then get started. I've already offered some good suggestions for your first pick, but it's important not let them see you deliberate."

Harry was truly grateful then for Gemma's guidance as he nodded, then moved around the dance floor. Taking her advice, he decided Pansy was the safest first bet, but before he could reach her, the Carrow twins, Flora and Hestia, stepped in front of Harry.

They were a year ahead of him at Hogwarts, and if he was counting, were probably Harry's best friends at school after Draco, Pansy, and the Weasley twins – in that order. "Might be best to steer clear of Pansy right now." One of them said. "She's just had a bit of a row with Draco." The other finished.

"Oh, thanks." Harry smiled then quickly changed tracks, "Flora, would you like to dance with me?"

The two girls looked at one another, then grinned mischievously. "Sure." They said in tandem. "Which one of us is Flora?"

That stopped Harry cold. He glanced back and forth between them, as they both shifted in place, and smiled at him with identical smiles. They wore dresses with similar designs, though one was blue and the other green. They had the same waist length blonde hair, though one had her hair up in a complicated braid and the other had hers in a layered tail that brushed her shoulders and a little down her back.

When they'd arrived and presented themselves to Harry and their hosts, Flora had been wearing the green dress. But Harry remembered them mentioning once that they sometimes switched outfits to confuse people. So, Harry made his best guess, turning to the twin in the blue dress, with her hair in the tails. "Flora Carrow, may I have this dance?" He bowed over his hand in front of her as both girls squealed with surprise and delight.

"Wow, he got you!" Hestia exclaimed.

"How'd you know it was me?"

"Just a good guess." Harry admitted.

"We thought you'd pick Hestia, since she introduced herself as Flora earlier." Flora smiled, and Harry realized then that they hadn't switched dresses afterall, just names, and his smile grew wider.

"Shall we?" Flora took his hand and he led her onto the dance floor.

Dancing with Flora Carrow was easy, despite Harry's inexperience. He'd only just learned to waltz the previous Christmas, and then had a few lessons in the week leading up to the party. After dancing with both the Carrow twins, his confidence was much improved, and he decided to try it again.

Harry made a point to dance with every girl close to his age, including Pansy after she'd calmed down. He also managed to find time for dances with some of the girls older than him. Gemma, for instance wheedled a single dance out of him, and Harriet McClaren – a girl Gemma's age – also insisted on a turn around the dance floor. At Narcissa's suggestion, he even danced with a tiny dark haired witch whose name he couldn't pronounce, but whom he learned was a diplomat several decades older than she looked from somewhere in the Philippines.

The planned festivities would continue for hours. There were refreshments throughout, and immediately after the dancing much of the crowd gathered to watch Harry open his many gifts.

Harry knew he couldn't take his time opening each gift, so he opened them one after another, reading the cards as quickly as he thought was polite, and made sure to thank each gift giver once he saw what he'd been given. There was a startling moment when he opened the brown packing paper containing Hagrid's gift, and the book inside squirmed out and flopped to the floor.

With a yelp, Harry stepped back, and not a moment too soon, as the book made a sort of growling noise and snapped shut on the space where his shoe had been a second earlier. "What _is_ that?!" someone cried, and a space rapidly cleared around Harry and his slightly furry book.

It flapped under the nearest table and Harry got down close to the floor to track its progress. When it dashed back out, straight for Harry's nose, one of the Weasley twins whipped his wand out and stunned it.

The other twin grabbed the book and tied one of the thicker ribbons from a previously opened present around it to keep it shut. He then turned the book upright, and read the title aloud, " 'The Monster Book of Monsters.' " He chuckled.

"That's Hagrid for you, sending you a biting book." His brother said with a fond shake of the head.

"Isn't that on our school book list?" Pansy asked.

"Must be why Hagrid sent it to me." Harry agreed. They set aside the odd and surly book, and Harry opened the rest of his presents uneventfully. Then it was time to play games.

The Malfoys had everyone separate into groups to play different games, with some people wandering from group to group, either looking for one that caught their interest, or just enjoying being a spectator. Keeping Gemma's dancing advice in mind, Harry decided to try and do a little of everything, starting with a game that had half a dozen people standing in a circle with a silver ball floating in the air between them. It would start off glowing a bluish color, and change at random intervals to green, yellow, then red, or sometimes it'd reverse. By pointing their wands at the ball they could push it or pull it, and the goal was to have the ball not be over their heads when it turned red, and created a small explosion of magic which afflicted anyone caught in the blast with surprising and random effects, such as turning their hair cotton candy pink, or drenching them in ice-cold water.

A second game was played around a small table, where an enchanted deck of cards would shuffle itself, then scatter across the table. There were enough cards for each player to pick up one, but each round, one would disappear at the last second. The goal was to pick up a card before the last one was gone, if you ended up without a card, you were out. Each round one person was eliminated, and while Harry found he was pretty good at the game, he was still taken out relatively early.

Another game Harry tried used different kinds of cards. People gathered into groups and one person would draw a card from a stack, which would have an image of some person, creature, or object on it. They had Harry go first, since it was his birthday, and while at first he didn't realize what exactly was on the card, he was assured quickly that the card itself would help him answer any questions he had trouble with. They all sat in a circle, and each person got to ask Harry one yes or no question about the card, or they could try to guess what was on the card. As the questions moved around the circle they got increasingly specific, and more people would use their turns to make an exact guess, and if you guessed right, then you got to draw the next card. Depending on the number of people playing, the number of rounds could change, but if no one had guessed it by the time the last round ended, then the card holder won. This was Harry's favorite game of the night.

There were other games that Harry tried, and he made a point to engage in a little conversation whenever possible, but he was afraid he hadn't even talked to half the people attending the party by the time the first groups started heading home for the night.

It took a very long time for things to wind down completely, and as the guest of honor, Harry had to be there until the last guest departed. At which point – somewhere past three in the morning – Harry was too tired to do more than trudge up the stairs to his room, kick his shoes off his sore feet, and fall asleep as he collapsed onto his bed.

* * *

"Wake up Harry." Harry tried to pretend he was asleep, but Draco obviously wasn't fooled. "I want to give you your present this morning. It can't wait. If you're not up in ten minutes, I'll send Dobby to wake you."

Harry groaned. Dobby, for all that he loved and doted on Harry, was not someone Harry would wish on anyone at this time of the morning. He heard the door close as he levered himself up onto his elbows, and picked up his glasses from the nightstand. It turned out – according to the clock on the mantle – that it was later than he'd initially thought, already well past ten o'clock.

Harry wasn't sure he'd ever slept in this late before, though he was certain he must have once or twice; maybe when he was in the hospital wing at Hogwarts.

Some time in the night Dobby had apparently moved Harry's mountain of presents, and it was now in a great pile in front of his bedroom window, still curtained-off floor to ceiling. The pile appeared as if it was about to fall over at any second.

Harry dressed slowly, after stretching out a bit, sore in places he hadn't expected to be sore. He hadn't noticed, opening all the parcels, envelopes, and boxes the night before, that none of them had been from Draco.

There was a little pop, and Harry turned to find Dobby standing on his bed, smiling at him, "Master Harry Potter is up, sir! Dobby is pleased. Dobby did not want to bother Master Harry when he was sleeping."

"It's no bother." Harry assured him. "I was wondering why Draco didn't give me his present with the rest of… this." He gestured to the pile of presents that was wider than his arms could reach, and scraped the vaulted ceiling at the top.

"Master Draco has your present downstairs, sir." Dobby informed him. "Master Draco's present had to be kept separate, sir." Dobby fidgeted like he did when he wanted to say something, but wasn't supposed to.

"Oh, don't worry then." Harry tried to reassure the house elf before he could get himself worked up. "I'll just go down for breakfast and open my present."

Harry gave him a smile and was heading towards the door before Dobby could blurt out what the present was, or why it had to be kept separate. He ran down the stairs at the end of the hall that led to the ground floor parlor, where Harry guessed Draco was probably waiting for him.

Draco sat with a present beside him not much bigger than a couple text books stacked atop one another, the box and the lid wrapped separately in silver and green, with gold ribbons. Harry smiled at his best friend, but moved first towards the smell of food. He hadn't honestly eaten much the day before, despite how much there had been to sample.

Draco waited, fidgeting only a little while Harry finished his eggs and sausage, then washed it down with a tall glass of some exotic juice blend Harry couldn't quite name. Then he gestured for Harry to come over to where the present sat on a low table.

"You should open it here." Draco suggested.

Harry nodded, and examined the present for a few moments from different angles, realizing there were little holes in the box for handles. "It's heavier than it looks." Draco warned, as Harry looked it over, though Harry hadn't actually planned on trying to lift it. After a curious moment he grasped the lid and slid it carefully upwards.

There was a hiss from within the small box, _"Light!"_ came a tiny voice Harry did not recognize. _"Eat you!"_ the voice continued, as Harry bent slightly to examine the contents. There was a small glass tank within the box, with a mesh grill over the top to allow air to get inside. The bottom of the tank was filled with what looked like wood chips, and there were tiny little mounds within, as if something very small had been making burrows beneath the chips.

Harry spotted movement, and saw the tip of a black tail disappearing into a hole in the chips.

"Do you like her?" Draco asked, watching Harry's expression.

"Did you get me a… a snake?" Harry asked then looked up when Draco didn't respond right away.

"Did you say something to _me_?" Draco blinked. "You were speaking parseltongue."

"Oh. Yeah. I asked, if you got me a snake?" Harry repeated, this time concentrating on Draco's face, so he would be sure to use regular words.

"Yes, she's a hognose, just a baby right now; only about twelve inches long."

Harry gave Draco a beaming smile, and thanked him profusely for the gift, while internally he wondered how he was going to take care of her. He didn't know anything about raising snakes, and he already had his owl, Hedwig. He didn't think he was allowed to bring two animals to the school.

But Draco had apparently thought of that already. "I can't bring Morgan to school. He's far too big, and Hogwarts would never allow a komodo dragon anyways. So since I can't bring _my_ pet, I can bring your snake to school instead." Harry's smile widened. He should have known Draco would get him a gift that _he_ would benefit from as well.

"Well right now I can't really see her." Harry admitted, shifting to look into the tank from different angles.

Draco drew his wand, and levitated the glass tank out of the box. Harry heard more hissing protests from within as soon as it began to move. Then when the tank was settled on the table top, Harry was able to see the snake moving through one of the tunnels she'd made right next to the glass. She was primarily silver with blackish round spots all down her back, and several black stripes radiating out from her head. The spots merged somewhat into a single darker strip right at the top of her tail, which just then disappeared once more from view.

"She's beautiful!" Harry said again, and had to look up at Draco and repeat himself in English, instead of snake-language. "She seems a bit shy though."

"I'm sure you can lure her out, and help her learn to be a bit more bold. You're a parselmouth, so not only can you understand each other when you speak to her in parseltongue, but from what I've read, many experts think that snakes who spend time around parselmouths actually become more intelligent."

"Well, let's leave her alone for the moment. I'll take her up to my room, and let her get used to being on the dresser in there, then try to coax her to show herself a bit later."

"A few other things you should know." Draco said as Harry levitated the case and started carefully moving it up the stairs. "Western Hognose snakes are comparatively tame, and are supposed to be some of the easiest snakes to raise and take care of. I thought, since you'd never been around snakes much before, that it'd be best to get you something easy. Also, they don't bite, or bite only extremely rarely. They're supposed to be big fakers, playing dead, hissing loudly, and even 'striking' just by butting their nose against things, rather than actually biting them. Their venom is also extremely mild, even if you do get bitten, it'll just itch and swell a bit."

"She sounds perfect." Harry agreed, still grinning widely. If he'd been asked whether he would have liked to have a snake for a pet, he probably would have said no. But now that he had her he was giddily happy about it. "Does she have a name?" He asked after a moment, setting the tank down in his room at last.

"No, you get to name her." Draco informed him.

Harry thought about it for a long moment, but eventually shook his head. "I'll have to give it some thought. Maybe after I get her out of hiding and get a good look at her all at once."

They spent most the rest of the day flying – for which Harry's sore feet thanked him – and it wasn't until that evening that Harry had time to sit down and think of a name. By the time he went downstairs to join the Malfoy's for dinner he was able to tell Draco what he'd decided to call her.

Agrias.

* * *

Harry had agreed to wait for a trip to Diagon Alley until the Weasley twins could go with him. It was the last week of August, when the Weasleys returned from Egypt. But he'd been going over his list of supplies he'd need for school for days leading up to the event. He'd already received "The Monster Book of Monsters" – his text book for his first new elective class that year, Care of Magical Creatures – as a present from Hagrid.

He needed a number of other new books, since he was also starting Arithmancy, Artificery, and Study of Ancient Runes, as well as books and supplies for many of his other regular courses. In particular, it looked like his potions requirements were going to cost a bit. He doubted he had enough bronze knuts, silver sickles, and gold galleons in the sack he kept in his trunk, which meant their first order of business was going to be a visit to Gringotts, the goblin-run wizard bank.

The date circled on Harry's calendar was the twenty eighth of August, a Saturday exactly four weeks after his birthday, and Harry was up early, to make sure everything was ready, which of course it was – he'd been checking and double checking that everything was ready for the past couple days. He ate a quick but tasty breakfast (everything was tasty at the Malfoys), and was just wondering if it was too early to bug Lucius or Draco when Mr. Malfoy found Harry in the parlor.

"Harry, I wondered if we might have a few words before we depart?" Lucius said before Harry could speak.

Lucius was already dressed, including his gloves, but Harry nodded, trying to control his excited energy.

"There's something I wish to tell you, and I want you to promise me that you'll think very carefully about everything I say."

"I promise." Harry said quickly, stilling himself at Lucius' serious tone.

"Good. Now, I'm sure you've seen the papers, and read about the Azkaban escapee, Sirius Black?" He asked Harry.

Harry nodded once more, "Yes, of course. There hasn't been an issue of the Daily Prophet in a month that hasn't had his face on the front page."

"Well, what you may not have heard, is just who Sirius Black is."

"Well, according to the papers, I know he killed a dozen muggles, and that he was one of Voldemort's right-hand men."

"That second part may not be entirely accurate." Lucius' gaze held Harry's attention. "Sirius Black was never a death eater, not the way myself and others were. If he was the Dark Lord's servant, he was a secret one. Most everyone believed he was an enemy of the Dark Lord, until the end, of course." Lucius sat down, and so did Harry. "In point of fact, he was close friends with a group of other Gryffindors from his school days, including your father, and another he killed along with those twelve muggles."

"He was… friends with my dad?" Harry didn't know what to make of this news. He couldn't fathom someone like Sirius Black being friends with anyone. Let alone his father. Not that he really knew much of anything about Black.

"Either that, or he pretended to be friends with your father. It is also possible, that perhaps Black was not a willing servant of the Dark Lord, but we may never really know. He was quite mad. He was laughing, when they arrested him, surrounded by what little remained of the thirteen people he had just killed." He paused, while Harry tried to make sense of his whirling thoughts. He finally took a deep breath, and tried to focus. He pushed those thoughts aside, much like when he was practicing occlumency, and determined to sort them out later, before giving Lucius a steady nod.

Lucius smiled to see how well Harry was handling this news, "At any rate, what the papers are not saying – what Minister Fudge does not think I should tell you – is _what_ Sirius is after, now that he has escaped from Azkaban."

"And what is that?" Harry had a feeling he wasn't going to like the answer to this question, but he also knew he could deal with it later. The knowledge that he didn't have to absorb all of this at once was calming.

"The night of his escape, the Minister of Magic visited Azkaban prison, and a few of the guards mentioned to him that Black had been muttering in his sleep. 'He's at Hogwarts.' He said; over and over. If he _was_ a loyal servant of the Dark Lord, he may blame you for his defeat. Whatever the case, he's had twelve long years with little to do but plot his escape and plan what he would do when he got out. Only Sirius Black himself knows for certain what his intentions are, but the Minister believes he is coming for you, Harry."

"So, he wants to kill me." Harry said calmly.

"I do not wish to speculate what motivates such a man. The facts are that he knows you are attending Hogwarts, and that he escaped Azkaban after gaining this knowledge. We do not know how he accomplished this feat, or whether he is coming for you for his own sake, or on behalf of the Dark Lord himself. But, whatever he intends, it cannot be good for you."

Harry nodded again then asked, "Why doesn't the Minister want me to know this?" Oddly, he wasn't frightened, mostly surprised and angry, but that didn't mean he wasn't worried.

"Cornelius is a fool." Lucius replied dismissively. "He thinks you'll be terrified. He doesn't know what it's like…" Lucius shook himself. "I mean, look at you. You've faced Him twice now. You've more courage than most adults. I'm telling you this because I believe you have a right to know, and because I want you to be cautious. You asked me a couple weeks ago after your school letters came, if I would sign your Hogsmead permission form, allowing you to visit the village of Hogsmead with the other third years.

"The reason I gave you for not signing it then, was a good one, but it wasn't the only reason. For all that you are an honorary Malfoy, I am not your guardian, but I also think it would be best for you to stay on the school grounds, at least until Black is caught. And by the same token, I'm going to ask you now, when we go out today; stay close to your friends, and don't wander off. Stick to Diagon Alley proper, and you should be safe. The Ministry knows you will be there today, and security will be on high alert."

"Alright." Harry nodded, and gave Lucius a smile, "I'll be careful, I promise."

Lucius smiled back, "I'm sure you'll be fine. But there's no sense taking unnecessary risks, is there?"

Harry felt much better. Something had been nagging at him ever since his birthday party and the whispered conversations he hadn't quite been able to overhear, but now that feeling was gone. Now he knew. "Thank you, Lucius, for telling me." He didn't often use Mr. Malfoy's first name, but he was getting more used to it, and it was worth it to see the answering smile on Lucius' face.

"Of course. I knew my faith in your resilience was not misplaced. You've been such a better influence on Draco."

"Are you two ready to go?" Draco asked from the doorway. Neither of them had heard him enter, and they were both slightly startled. Lucius, of course, recovered first.

"I think so." He told his son, with a pleasant smile as he led the way out of the parlor and into the entry hall.

They found Narcissa waiting for them. She gave her husband an appraising glance, but then nodded. "Ready, Harry?" She asked, offering her hand to him, as they prepared to travel to Diagon Alley. Like the last time they'd taken this trip, the two adults were apparating, and Narcissa was taking Harry along with her, while Draco was going with Lucius. Narcissa was a bit shorter than her husband, and her hair was dark brown, where it wasn't graying a little on the sides – with surprising dignity. On some people, the grey hair would have made them look worn out, but on Narcissa it just made her look kind and wise.

"I'm ready." He took her hand, and braced himself for the crazy twisting sensation of being squeezed through miles and miles of space through a tube. It wasn't pleasant, but he got through it with a minimum of fuss, appearing next to Gringotts, which was their first stop.

As always, the rollercoaster ride through the myriad tunnels on a speeding mine-cart was exhilarating. Harry filled his sack with coins, and the Malfoys similarly retrieved money from their main vault, before they were whisked back to the surface on the same cart they'd come down on.

Then it was off to Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore where they'd be buying their text-books for the year. The first thing Harry noticed when they arrived was that the usual window display had been replaced by a cage filled with copies of the 'Monster Book of Monsters'. The books inside were fighting with each other resulting in bits of torn pages strewn all over that side of the room. As they entered, the attendant was pulling one book out of the cage with a large pair of metal tongs for a rather nervous looking Neville Longbottom.

Neville was a Gryffindor in their year who tended to be a bit timid and forgetful, especially in their combined potions classes with the intimidating Professor Snape as their teacher. A lot of Slytherins like to pick on Neville, but Harry generally discouraged his close friends from doing so.

"How am I supposed to use this?" He asked the attendant, struggling to hold his book closed with both hands.

"Try tying it with a really thick ribbon." Draco suggested in a teasing tone.

"Uh… yeah, I'll do that…" Neville flushed, noticing Harry and the Malfoys for the first time.

"Are you Hogwarts too? Third year?" The attendant asked them.

"Yes they are. But I believe they both already have that particular book." Lucius replied.

"Oh, oh good." The attendant looked immediately relieved, and moved to put away the tongs and heavy gloves he'd been using to get the books out of the cage.

Neville paid for his purchases and left, then the attendant turned to help Harry and Draco.

"Okay, for starters, you'll want two copies of 'The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three'." The man said as he placed a copy in front of both Harry and Draco. " 'Intermediate Transfiguration'." He continued. " 'Goshawk's Guide to Herbology' and 'Magic in the Middle Ages'." He went off into the back for a moment before returning with the next pair of books, " 'The Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts'." He set them down, and then checked their books list briefly, "That covers your core classes."

"We're both taking the same electives." Draco supplied, and the man smiled.

"That simplifies things. Let's see, you'll be wanting 'Numerology and Grammatica', I tried Arithmancy myself, but I only managed an Acceptable on my OWL." He departed, and returned with two thick and heavy textbooks. Harry shared a brief worried glance with Draco, who likewise looked nervous. "You'll need both 'Spellman's Syllabary' and a copy of 'Hanson's Rune Dictionary' for Ancient Runes." He disappeared again and returned with four more books, "And of course, 'Magical Industry, A Guide to Artificery in the Modern Age'." Their last textbooks were taller and wider than their other books, and fairly thick too. Fortunately, Draco and Harry didn't have to try to carry the awkward looking stacks, as Dobby was happy to magic them away once they'd paid for them.

After that, the four of them headed down the street to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, where Harry and Draco both got fitted for new school robes, since their old ones were getting to be a little short at the wrists and ankles.

Harry also asked, "Is it possible to get my winter robes and cloak altered to fit my new height, without interfering with the enchantments worked into the material?"

"Of course, Mister Potter!" Malkin assured him, "It will take a few days. Just have the Malfoy's send them here, and I'll have it finished and sent to Hogwarts with your new robes before the first day of term."

"Thanks!" Harry smiled as they prepared to leave the shop.

Their next stop was Slug and Jiggers Apothecary to stock up on potions supplies, and finally the Magical Menagerie so Harry could get some things for taking care of his snake, Agrias as well as Hedwig, his owl. After that, they visited Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, and purchased desserts while they sat and waited for the Weasleys to arrive.

"Heya, Harry!" Harry looked up and smiled at the twins heading his way. The rest of the Weasley family were a short distance behind, and several of them watched Harry and the Malfoys warily. Ron of course, wore a sour expression confronting two of his rivals from school. His older brother Percy, however, was looking at Harry down his nose while puffing out his chest importantly, blatantly drawing attention to the shining head boy badge pinned there.

The youngest Weasley, a girl named Ginny, was a year behind Harry at Hogwarts, and the most she'd spoken to Harry had been just after he'd saved her life, near the end of the last school year. Most the school didn't realize Harry had been directly involved in confronting the younger version of Lord Voldemort in the chamber of secrets, but despite the secrecy, Ginny had confessed that she remembered seeing him there, and promised to keep that knowledge to herself.

She looked at him now, blushing a pretty pink behind her freckles. She'd always been embarrassed and awkward around Harry, but then Harry realized that all the Weasleys' faces were pink tinged. Maybe she wasn't blushing, but was just sunburned from their trip to Egypt.

"Mister Weasley." Lucius stood and addressed the twins' father.

"Malfoy, it's good of you to look after Harry." Arthur replied, his tone civil but cold. "I trust you'll look after my boys as well?"

"I don't really think they need a chaperon." Lucius shrugged. Harry could tell they were making an effort to be nice to one another, probably for his sake. "We were planning to let Harry and his friends have rest of the day to themselves. Harry and Draco already know they are to stay within the bounds of Diagon Alley, so they should be fine."

Arthur shared a look with his wife, and she nodded, at which point all of the Weasleys except for Percy visibly relaxed. "That sounds perfect." Arthur admitted aloud. "Well then, I think we have other errands to attend to, don't we Molly?"

"We'll take your things back to the burrow." Molly told the twins, and she had Percy take two bags of books and another package of their other purchases that the twins had been carrying.

"You four have fun now." Arthur granted Harry a smile, and with one last backward glance at Lucius, they departed.

"We'll meet you back here before dusk." Narcissa said while smoothing back Draco's already perfect hair. "Don't get into any trouble now, is that understood?"

"Yes, Mother." Draco tried to shake her off without looking like he was trying to shake her off, and then Lucius and Narcissa also departed, leaving Harry with three of his best friends. "What should we do first?" Harry asked.

"We thought we might visit Gambol and Japes first." One of the twins suggested. Harry hadn't been inside the joke shop before, but thought it could be fun, so he agreed, and the four of them started off in that direction.

The twins insisted on buying Harry a trick wand with their remaining money, and then they started wandering from shop to shop. Harry had to restrain himself and Draco from overspending in front of their friends, and reminded himself that he needed the money his family had left him to last through the end of his schooling, at the very least.

But when they arrived at Quality Quidditch Supplies, his resolve was sorely tested. There on display was an absolutely gorgeous new broom, from the Firebolt company. Harry knew they were typically custom order only, and that they were disgustingly expensive, usually only commissioned by professional quidditch players or racing teams. Even though this was being sold at a retail store it was still in a league apart from the other brooms displayed there.

According to the tag, the shop had only the one Firebolt in stock, and pricing was 'on request only'. Harry had never wanted anything as much as he now wanted that broom, but his Wind Chaser was already an amazing broom, and it had served him very well so far over the course of 6 games, the last 2 years, only one of which Slytherin had lost.

"What do you think, Harry?" Draco asked softly. "Father would probably scold me if I even _thought_ about asking for a new broom less than two years after he got me my Nimbus. But doesn't that just look marvelous?"

"I wish there were two." One of the twins said reverently. "And that we were filthy rich enough to buy them." The other twin added.

"I'm not sure anyone short of a professional quidditch player could really afford to buy two of these." Harry lamented. "Maybe we should go, no sense tormenting ourselves any more than necessary."

The others reluctantly agreed, and they backed away from the murmuring crowd, and forced themselves to wander the rest of the store. When Harry saw the twins admiring a set of high quality quidditch pads designed for beaters – the position they played on the Gryffindor quidditch team – he drew Draco aside, and in hushed tones suggested they buy the equipment for the twins as a late birthday present.

That, of course, made Harry realize something else, and he turned back to the twins after sending Draco to the clerk to handle their purchases circumspectly. "Something just occurred to me." He told the two red-heads, leading them to another part of the store where they found maintenance kits for each of the three different types of balls used to play quidditch. "I just realized, I don't think you have ever told me when your birthday is?"

They raised their eyebrows, and smiled at one another and Harry, "April Fools!" they announced as one.

"April… first? April first?" Harry blinked rapidly, and the twins nodded. "That explains a lot." He added, sharing an amused smile with his friends, who laughed at his joke.

On the way out of the store Draco found them and handed Harry one of the brown paper packages they'd bought. Then they made their way back down the street and sat down for the second time at the ice cream parlor. "Happy April Fools, and a late birthday present." Harry said, handing his package to one of the twins.

Draco echoed him, and handed over the other package to the other twin. "These are from both of us." He added after a moment. "To make up for missing your last birthday."

Flustered, but obviously pleased, they tore the brown packaging off their presents, and gushed over the protective padding. "You didn't have to." "But thanks!" "You're the best, Harry. And Draco."

They sat together and reminisced over all the things they'd gotten up to in the past two years, and all the things they hoped to do in the years to come. They'd been talking for about half an hour when a somewhat familiar voice greeted them.

"There you are, Harry Potter." Harry had met Valarios Vladescu only once, and had heard him speak only twice. Harry honestly didn't know what to make of the weathered but well-aged wizard with pale hair and an almost eerie quality to his accent and manner. "I had hoped to find you here today. Might I have a moment of your time?"

He realized he hadn't answered, and his friends were all looking at the newcomer appraisingly. None of them knew who he was. "I suppose." Harry said at last, "But I'm not supposed to leave Diagon, Mister Vladescu."

At the mention of his name, Draco and the twins all immediately perked up, their interest caught now that they had a face to put to the name. Harry had told them what he knew about the mysterious seer, Valarios Vladescu, but until then, he'd been the only member of his circle of friends who had met the man in person.

"Leaving will not be necessary. Let us simply step into the shop where we can have a word in privacy. Agreed?" Harry couldn't think of any reason that shouldn't be alright. There was something odd about Valarios, but Harry had no reason to believe he meant him ill will. So he agreed.

The ice cream parlor had tables both inside and outside, and while Harry had been enjoying the weather outdoors, the interior was well enough lit that his eyes took only a moment to adjust to the change in lighting. "What was it you wanted to talk about?" Harry asked after moving out of the doorway.

"A simple matter, really." The distinguished man began. "You and I have not had much opportunity to converse, so you do not know much about me. What you should know, is that I have the gift of foresight, and while some may scoff at such matters, I have exercised my talents towards the outcome of the current issues facing our society. Most specifically Sirius Black. You are aware of this event?"

"Yes, I know about Black. He escaped from Azkaban, that's why I'm not supposed to leave Diagon."

Valarios nodded, "A wise precaution." He agreed, but then stopped briefly as the door to the shop was pushed open by a large but rather shabby looking black dog, who looked around the room, spotted Harry, and wagged its tail. Immediately the seer turned back to Harry, "Anyways, my efforts so far have been somewhat frustrated. I can induce a true vision trance, and I'm typically effective at interpreting the results, but this time… well I'm beginning to think maybe I'm asking the wrong questions. Much as it pains me to admit to any fallibility." He gave Harry a subtle smile at his own joke, but Harry was a little too confused by the unfamiliar subject to laugh.

"So what did you need me for?" Harry wondered aloud, hoping to move the conversation along. "I don't really understand how foresight works, or what a true vision trance is, or any of that."

"It's complicated. Many wizards study divination for years without truly understanding it. But I won't bore you with the details. I have merely come to ask you a few questions." Harry noted that the black dog had trotted around the room, sniffing under tables for discarded treats, and then come over to settle on its haunches a little behind Valarios, its curious eyes watching Harry.

"What do you know about Sirius Black?" Valarios' question reclaimed Harry's attention instantly.

"You're not the first person to ask me that question." Harry admitted. "It's not something I really want to talk about."

"Understandable. The general consensus is that he has escaped prison with the express intention of murdering you. Fortunately for you, I have not foreseen your grisly death at his hands, but I still have had trouble determining what the likely outcome of these events will be. I need to know anything you know about him that I might not be taking into account."

"I really don't know much of anything. I understand he may have been a secret supporter of Voldemort." Valarios, for his part, didn't flinch when Harry spoke the name aloud, a fact which oddly made Harry like him a little more. "But he wasn't one of his regular Death Eaters. He was also…" Harry felt a lump in his throat, he still needed to find time to sort through his feelings on this subject. He doubted keeping them sealed off with occlumency for any length of period would be particularly healthy. "…he was… friends with my parents, or at least pretended to be."

"You see, that…" Valarios trailed off as the malnourished black dog was growling. Not loudly, but there was obvious menace as Harry and the pale seer both turned to regard the dog. Almost immediately it stopped, and thumped its tail against the ground a few times. "…that was something I had _not_ known. No one talks about things like that. The Black family isn't the sort one would expect to be close with individuals such as James Potter or Lilly Evans."

"That's all I know, really." Harry was getting uncomfortable, and there was something unsettling about the straggly thin dog. It was skinny, the bones showing through its clumpy fur, but it was quite large, and could still be dangerous for all that it was poorly fed. Harry wanted to get back to his friends.

"That may be enough. You take care, Harry Potter." Valarios told him, "And don't pay any heed to omens. They are rarely interpreted correctly, and in your case, I expect you will survive this, as you have survived so much else."

"Thanks… I think." Harry offered a gracious smile he didn't truly feel – something he was getting a bit more practiced at – and took his leave, moving carefully past the big dog on his way outside.

"Looks like you've got a new friend." One of the Weasley twins grinned at him when Harry came out and saw that the mutt was following close on his heels.

"Suppose I do." Harry sat back down, and the dog watched them all for a few moments before trotting away, and disappearing down a street marked 'Knockturn Alley'. Harry related what Valarios had said, and they spent a few minutes discussing the meaning of the conversation before Florean Fortescue himself, the owner of the ice cream parlor, stopped by the table Harry shared with his friends, "Can I get you boys anything else?" He asked, smiling his kind smile.

"We're fine." Harry responded quickly, and had just turned back to the table when something else occurred to him, "Uh, Mister Fortescue?" He called to the retreating proprietor.

"You can call me Florean." He told Harry.

"Okay, and you can call me Harry." Harry gave him a smile. "I had a question, about your name."

"My name?" The man blinked at him.

"Your last name, Fortescue, what does it mean?"

Florean's expression was bemused as he answered. "It's not an entirely uncommon name in these parts, but my family originally hailed from Romania. Fortescue is an old Romanian name, it means "Son of Ford."

Harry nodded, "So if someone's surname was 'Vladescu' it would mean…" Draco and the twins faces' lit up with sudden understanding the moment the words left Harry's mouth.

" 'Son of Vlad', yes." Florean finished Harry's thought for him. "Though I would imagine that name _would be_ highly uncommon. Any who bore such a name would likely want to change it. It's not popular to be associated with a name like that."

"Why is that, precisely?" Harry asked.

"Well, because of Vlad Tepes, I would hazard. One of the most infamous dark wizards of all time. I know quite a bit about dark wizards, and their fates. Many families in Europe were persecuted in centuries past just for being rumored to have connections to wizards like Vlad the Third. Did you run across the name in one of your school books? Witch burnings and the like are subjects they teach around third year, if I recall correctly."

"Yeah, we've been doing reports on that over the summer." Harry admitted, though that was hardly the real reason he'd asked the question. "Thanks for your input."

Florean moved off with a satisfied smile, and Harry and his friends leaned close to speak in low tones.

"Do you think Valarios might be related to Vlad Tepes?" Draco asked.

"It's certainly possible, but while he seems mysterious and suspicious, I've never gotten the feeling he was into anything as dark as that." Harry supplied, "What do you think it means if he's got a name that most would consider unpopular?"

"No idea." It was one of the twins this time. "It could mean nothing." "Or it could be a major clue. But we don't have all the pieces of this puzzle yet."

"I suppose we'll just have to keep it in mind in case we have a chance to dig any deeper. There's just something about Valarios…" Harry trailed off, his mind trying to come up with a theory, but they were right; he just didn't know enough. At least not yet.

* * *

**Author's Comments:** Well, this chapter is finally ready. It took a little longer than I'd have liked to finalize it, and while I'm technically on schedule with it, I'm worried that my time to work on things like this is dwindling somewhat. So just a warning, there's a decent probability that next month's chapter will be delayed. I'll try to post it as soon as it's ready, and hopefully I'll get back on track soon, but I thought it only fair to let you guys know.

Anyways, this was a very interesting and fun chapter to write, I enjoyed coming up with all the details of the party, and while I know it's been done, I also thoroughly enjoyed Draco's gift to Harry. If anyone's curious about Agrias' appearance, she's an anerythristic western hognose snake. Google that for picture examples of what that looks like. Yes, in many ways it's a bit like the Slytherin colors, and that's part of why I chose it, but it's not an exact match, and overall I just like the general coloring.

Thanks as always for reading, and I look forwards to reading your reviews.

Enjoy!

Once again the copyrights for the Harry Potter worlds belong to J.K. Rowling. All original characters depicted here and this story are copyrighted to me.


	3. A Storm Over Hogwarts

**Year 3 – The Prisoner of Azkaban**

**Chapter 3 – ****A Storm Over Hogwarts**

**Chapter Summary:** Harry finally returns to his favorite place in the whole world, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But not all is clear skies and fair weather. A storm appears to be brewing on the horizon… a storm by the name of Sirius Black.

**Author:** Khodexus

**Rated T:** For occasional graphic concepts and atmosphere. No cussing, no adult situations, no violence.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any rights for the worlds or characters in Harry Potter. Those rights are owned by Scholastic Publishing Inc and J.K. Rowling. I do own the rights to my original characters depicted here, in as far as they differ from the worlds created by J.K. Rowling.

* * *

The days before September 1st and Harry's return to Hogwarts were rapidly dwindling. And though they were getting shorter, each day that passed seemed to drag on longer than the last. Harry stayed at the mansion, and there were no further outings. When Harry wasn't busy with his summer assignments or other school preparations, he spent most of his time in two places. Either outside practicing broom maneuvers and quidditch plays with Draco, or in his room watching Agrias. Once he'd coaxed her out into the light he found she was friendly and playful, if a little dim, or maybe she was just still young.

The most she'd said at one time so far was, "Moving? Hunting! Find in hole! Eat!" But Harry was hopeful he could get her to be more sociable.

He didn't neglect Hedwig, of course, but made sure to spend ample time with her when she was home with him, which was most the time, since he didn't have much correspondence after completing the last of his thank you notes to his party guests. But then something a little unexpected occurred.

"What does that even mean?" Draco asked. "Aren't we just taking the train as usual?" It was the last day of August, and Lucius had just informed them – as they sat down for dinner – that he had finalized their travel arrangements with the school.

"Not this year. I'm afraid circumstances have called for a greater degree of caution. There is a madman on the loose, afterall, so I'm conveying you and Harry to the school myself tomorrow afternoon." Lucius explained.

Draco started to protest, but then stopped, sighing as he took a little time to think it over while his father continued. "You'll have the next nine months to catch up with all your friends while you're at school. Losing a few hours on the train is but a trifle."

"I guess. Just not sure I understand why you think that's necessary." Draco shrugged, trying to brush it off, but it was clear he wanted to know what was going on, and Harry hadn't yet shared what Lucius had told him before their trip to Diagon. Harry thought he would have to tell him at some point, Draco was his best friend afterall. He wished suddenly he hadn't withheld that.

"Indulge me, Draco." Lucius offered a fond smile, "As head Governor for Hogwarts it is my privilege to take extra precautions for my family."

"Your father is only thinking of your safety, and Harry's." Narcissa cut in. "It is a father's nature to worry about such things. Allow us this to ease our minds, won't you?"

Harry suddenly understood that Narcissa had known all along what Lucius would tell Harry. Draco was the only one in the dark here, but not for long, he decided. "Alright." Draco agreed. "So how are we traveling then? You can't apparate into Hogwarts."

"No, we'll be using a portkey." Lucius told him.

"That's almost as bad." The conversation quickly turned to other subjects, but Harry kept thinking about Sirius Black.

That night, Harry lay awake wondering just what Black would do or say if they met face to face. Would Sirius tell him why he wanted him dead? Would it be insane gibberish or cold and rational like the specter of Tom Riddle, Harry had confronted the year before? Harry was curious, but not stupid. He wouldn't go looking for Black.

But… Black had betrayed his friendship with Harry's parents, and killed one of his father's school friends. Thinking about it made Harry's gut clench, and his eyes sting with tears. He couldn't hold it in any longer, and he sobbed silently in the dark of his room, Hedwig and Agrias the only witnesses to his sorrow.

He didn't remember falling asleep, but he felt strangely relieved the next morning, like a weight had lifted from him that he hadn't known he was carrying. He'd originally expected to leave for the train that morning, but since they weren't leaving until the afternoon, he had time to kill, and he spent most of it with Draco, getting in one last fly around the grounds on their brooms.

"There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about." Harry told Draco. He and his best friend sat sipping another pair of drinks Harry had never heard of before, but which he found quite refreshing after a few good hours in the air. "It's about why we're using a portkey to get to school this afternoon."

"What do you mean?" Draco's brows furrowed.

"Your father told me. I wasn't sure if I should tell anyone else, but after last night, I thought I probably should tell you."

"You're keeping secrets from _me_ now?" Draco scowled.

"No, it's just that it's kind of private. You see, Lucius told me that Sirius Black was friends with my parents. He betrayed them, and he knows I'm attending Hogwarts. He escaped Azkaban to come after me."

Draco stared, but then swore under his breath, "That's rough. I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Not very many people do. Even Valarios had to ask me about it, he couldn't even see it with his 'true visions' whatever that means."

"Some divination rubbish, no doubt." Draco shrugged. "But, I'm glad you told me."

"Just keep it between us, alright?"

"Sure thing. It's nobody else's business, that's for sure."

"Thanks, Draco."

"Anytime."

They shared a smile between them, and it wasn't much longer before Lucius gathered them for the portkey. This was it then. Another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry was looking forwards to it, even with a crazed murderer on the loose. Whatever happened, he knew he could face it.

* * *

They arrived in a room Harry hadn't seen before. Hogwarts was a sizable castle, and he knew the layout could change from time to time. Staircases that led to the corridor outside their Defense classroom most of the time might lead to the hospital wing some days. And seemingly empty unused rooms were sometimes there that were no where to be found when you actually looked for them. So it wasn't surprising really that there were places Harry had never seen, never explored. But it still awed him, just a little, every time he discovered something new about the castle.

"Welcome, Mister Malfoy, it's always wonderful to see you visiting," Said the dark haired woman who'd been waiting to greet them in the small chamber. She seemed middle aged, maybe as old as Harry's aunt and uncle.

"Pleasant to see you, as always, Miss Lissander." Lucius greeted her with a subtle nod of his head. Draco was looking around at this new unfamiliar place just as Harry was. There wasn't much of anything here, but as soon as they stepped into the adjoining chamber it began to look more familiar. A painting on the wall showed a hill-strewn countryside, with two young witches and two equally young wizards standing together. They looked excited, and the painting looked old, perhaps one of the oldest Harry had ever seen. They waved as Harry entered the room. There were couches and an armchair next to a small fireplace, and a desk with a few papers spread across it, looked like it wasn't frequently used.

"Can I get you anything?" Miss Lissander asked as she opened the door leading from this room into the corridor.

"Notify the staff that we have arrived. I wish to say a few words to Harry and my son before I take my leave." Lucius explained, and the woman nodded before leaving them alone.

Lucius turned back to the two of them, "I'm sorry I couldn't stay for a little longer. Promise me you'll be careful, especially when you're outside of the castle. The security measures here are significant, and there will be additional guards on loan from Azkaban as long as Sirius Black is at large, but Hogsmead is much less secure."

"I won't be going to Hogsmead, though." Harry sighed, still wishing he could be allowed to visit the all-wizard village.

"No, but Draco may, if he chooses. Just be careful. I'll see you both at Christmas." He clasped hands warmly with Harry and then his son, before turning back to the room where they'd left the portkey device. "Look after each other." He said at last, then stepped through the door and was gone.

Draco sat down on the nearest couch and Harry sat next to him. All their trunks and other things were in the next room. No doubt they'd be taken to their rooms by the house elves, but for now, it wasn't a concern.

Thunder boomed somewhere in the distance, muffled by the thick stone walls. "Sounds like a storm." Draco observed. "How close do you suppose the Hogwarts Express is?"

"No idea. What time do they usually arrive?"

"Pretty late." Draco replied.

"We've probably got a couple hours," Harry said after checking his watch. "We could always play a round of chess?"

"Sure, as soon as they let us head down to the common room," Draco smiled.

Another rumble of thunder penetrated the walls. Harry thought that a really nasty storm must be coming.

* * *

"Where are they?!" Draco and Harry sat together, the lone students at the Slytherin table in the great hall. A few of their teachers were already seated at the staff table at one end of the room, while others moved in and out from time to time always to share brief whispered conversations with their seated fellows. Across from them, a single tall girl sat by herself at the Ravenclaw table. But Harry couldn't recall her name, if he'd ever known it. Harry and Draco had been waiting twenty minutes since their head of house, and potions professor, Severus Snape, had summoned them from their house common room to the great hall, stating that the train would be arriving at any time.

"I don't know. Maybe the storm slowed them down." Harry offered.

The ceiling in the great hall was enchanted to reflect the appearance of the sky outside, and that meant a deep blackness filled with sheets of pouring rain that never touched the tables below. More rain pelted the window panes behind the staff table in great big drops that roared like thousands of marching feet throughout the vast chamber.

"I hope everyone's alright." Harry said softly.

"Me too. Well, most everyone." Draco countered. "Wouldn't bother me if Seamus caught a cold in this mess." He gestured towards the windows.

Harry could only chuckle. Neither of them cared for Seamus Finnigan at all. The blonde Irish boy had been their nemesis almost since the first moment they'd come to the school. The previous year, he'd even tried to prove that Harry was the one responsible for the horrible attacks that ended up with numerous students petrified, along with the ill-tempered caretaker's ill-tempered cat.

He had no idea what to expect from Seamus this year, but he wasn't looking forwards to finding out. "We should have brought our chess game," Harry complained, wishing they'd had something to occupy themselves.

"Yeah, we should have," Draco nodded.

A moment later the two of them turned, hearing the doors open to admit one of their least favorite teachers, Professor McGonagall. "I have news." She spoke loudly enough that the whole hall could hear her clearly, "We have just received an owl from the Hogwarts Express, saying that it has been delayed. It was stopped by the, Azkaban guards." McGonagall spoke the words 'Azkaban guards' as if she'd just swallowed curdled milk, "They were looking for Sirius Black, but the train is once again en route, and should arrive shortly."

The Transfiguration professor continued to the front of the hall where she spoke with the teachers already at the staff table in quiet tones, no doubt discussing the development in more detail.

"At least we know what happened." Harry said after a moment.

"I guess it's a good thing we came by portkey, if Sirius was on the train." Draco thought aloud.

"We don't know he was on the train, just that the Azkaban guards were." Harry countered. "If they'd found him, McGonagall certainly would have mentioned it." Draco thought about it, then nodded in agreement, "Who are the Azkaban guards?" Harry continued after a moment, "Everyone always gets this sour look when they talk about them, as if 'Azkaban guard' is some kind of dirty word."

"I don't really know," Draco admitted. "I think I heard somewhere, they're called Dementors. They're… something really nasty. No one talks about them, not even Father."

It was about that time that Professor Snape and several other teachers entered the great hall. Snape looked a bit more irritable than usual, as he walked calmly but purposefully to the staff table. He spoke a few terse words to the other teachers and then took his usual place at one end of the table.

It was another twenty minutes before Dumbledore himself entered the hall. And as he strode past the Ravenclaw table, the girl there asked, "Is it the train?"

"Yes, they have just arrived," he informed her, his voice carrying easily across the chamber.

A few more minutes passed as the Headmaster took his seat, and then the double doors to the great hall opened once more and students began filing in. "You're lucky you weren't on the train," Pansy told them, as she found a spot next to Draco at the Slytherin table.

"You should have been there, Harry!" Blaise added, sitting next to Harry on the other side.

"Did anyone see those… things?" one of the Carrow twins commented, as they both sat across from Pansy, just a little down from Harry.

"Let's not talk about that at the table," the Prefect, Gemma Farley, scolded as she sat next to the twin girls.

Their table gradually filled with familiar faces, with room at the end for the students who would be starting their first year at Hogwarts tonight.

Harry was very much looking forward to the Sorting Ceremony, where all the new students would try on a shabby, old, wide-brimmed, pointed hat, and it would announce in a loud voice which House they would belong to for the rest of their years at Hogwarts. Harry didn't even begin to understand the enchantments that allowed the hat to do this, but that was the great thing about magic. It didn't have to make sense.

Pansy finally got Harry's and Draco's attention again. "Pray you never have to see one of _those_ up close… I'm not ashamed to say they made me feel terrible. Cold, and alone. But you should have seen Seamus." At the mention of their sandy-haired rival, she chuckled wickedly, "I spotted him running down the hall outside our compartment, bawling like a baby."

"Is that so?" Draco grinned. "We can make good use of that information.

Their conversation was interrupted when McGonagall entered the great hall once more, this time leading the column of first year students up the center aisle to line up in front of the staff table, looking out at the room and their future classmates. In front of them was a stool, and on top of the stool was the sorting hat.

As always, the wrinkles and rips along the surface of the hat formed a face and moved as the hat began to sing. Harry had thoroughly enjoyed the sorting songs from the last two years. Did it spend all of its time – when not being used – thinking up the next year's song? He wondered.

Once in ages past,

There lived great sorcerers four.

For their varied talents,

They were famed to every shore.

Gryffindor was brave,

With many deeds to his name.

Slytherin was cunning,

With blue blood in his veins.

Ravenclaw as well,

As fair as she was smart.

And hard working Hufflepuff,

Had a kind and gentle heart.

Together they each sought,

To build a place of learning.

Wondrous castle Hogwarts,

Was born from this great yearning.

Wizards far and wide,

Became the castle's students.

Here the founders taught them,

In all magic, to be fluent.

Though methods greatly differed,

There was room for all.

For each of the four founders,

Had a house for those they called.

As their last years neared,

The school nigh met its end.

The fate of the whole castle,

On sorting students, would depend.

The solution to this problem,

Is the hat you see here now.

I was made to sort you,

You would ask me, "How?"

I'll look inside your head,

For those traits they each did cherish.

But worry yourself not,

For there's room for all to flourish.

You may think the magic born,

Must come to Slytherin to rest.

Or the pretty booksmart witch.

Belongs in Ravenclaw's nest.

But I am here to tell you,

Many talents you each hold.

Those with cunning and ambition,

Can also be brave and bold.

Those of great intelligence,

Can to Hufflepuff espouse.

And whole pureblood broods,

Are found in every house.

All you need to know,

Is that I am the smartest hat you'll find.

I'm always right, you see,

It's all there in your mind.

Come and try me on,

No reason to be scared.

The great Hogwarts school,

Was created to be shared.

It finished to great applause from the seated students, while the new arrivals showed mixed reactions. All were nervous, and some looked relieved as well. Harry remembered what it had been like his first time. When it had been _him_ on the stool.

After explaining the procedure, McGonagall called the first name, "Arncliffe, Rebecca."

A pale girl with strawberry blonde hair moved forwards and took a seat on the stool, where McGonagall lowered the sorting hat onto her head. A few moments later, the hat shouted, "Ravenclaw!" And Rebecca moved enthusiastically to the table where the other Ravenclaws were clapping.

"Baldock, Sadie." The Transfiguration professor called next, and another young girl took her place on the stool.

"Slytherin!" shouted the hat, and Harry joined the applause greeting their newest house mate. After that was a second Ravenclaw girl, then the first new Hufflepuff, Linda Chaddesley, and yet another Ravenclaw, Kyle Chambers.

The first to be sorted into Gryffindor was a tiny brown-haired girl named Haley Dakota. She was immediately followed by Thora Dinnet, who was sorted into Hufflepuff.

Harry took note of each name, but was mostly paying attention to his classmates who discussed each new student based on what they did or didn't know about them, or what house they were sorted into.

Pansy noted, for instance, that Nathaniel Douglas, a Ravenclaw, had a pretty face, but probably didn't have a lot going on in the tower. Greg and Vince made fun of Annabel Entwhistle's name, as she was sorted into Hufflepuff. Then after Victoria Frobisher became a new Gryffindor student, Harry was distracted by a particularly nasty pun one of the older girls made about her hair, but his attention wavered only briefly, and he turned back forwards when McGonagall called out, "Greengrass, Astoria!"

"Is that your sister, Daphne?" Harry asked as he watched a brown haired girl take her seat.

"Yeah, Story's a bit of a pain sometimes, but she's my sister." Daphne confirmed.

Astoria already wore a broach with the Slytherin house colors on it, but the sorting hat took a little time before announcing that she'd be joining them at the "Slytherin!" table.

"Guthrie, Austin." Was next. A tall lanky boy who seemed very happy to be sorted into Ravenclaw.

And after him was one Niles Hanley, who caused a bit of a stir around Harry when the sorting hat shouted, "Slytherin!" After considering for several minutes.

Harry remembered that his own sorting had taken awhile, and the sorting hat had whispered in his ear all the things it saw in him that could have made him fit into this house, or that. Apparently Harry might have done alright in any of the houses, but he couldn't imagine being in a house other than Slytherin.

"Harrison, Rachel." McGonagall called.

"Here comes another for our table." Daphne said under her breath as a girl with bright red hair sat down. "She hangs out with Story _all_ the time."

Astoria cheered for Rachel, and then the hall gradually grew quiet as the seconds stretched into minutes while the hat deliberated. "What's wrong?" The younger Greengrass asked her sister at last.

"Nothing's wrong." Daphne assured her. "Sometimes the hat just takes a while. You should have seen it last year, when that Looney Lovegood was up there."

"Luna." Harry corrected automatically then shrugged when several of his housemates gave him odd looks.

"Gryffindor!" The hat cried out at last.

"What?! No!" Astoria actually stood up from her seat, staring in shock as her friend moved hesitantly to sit with her new classmates at the other side of the hall.

"Sit down!" Daphne growled, and Gemma Farley tugged her into her seat.

Harry barely caught the name of the next student, Geoffrey Hooper, as muttering burst out all around him over this unexpected turn of events.

"She's a pureblood." Someone said, "All the Harrisons have been in Slytherin." Another girl added. "Why is she in Gryffindor?" Astoria asked, looking isolated and worried.

Geoffrey also joined the Gryffindors after he was sorted. Then a dark skinned boy trotted to the Hufflepuff table, and finally Harry could hear McGonagall call out, "Kirk, Andrew."

Harry watched a large boy sit down, and get sorted into Gryffindor, and then blinked as someone said his name. "What?" He asked, looking around.

"You're Harry Potter?" Astoria was asking, finally distracted from her distress over her friend's sorting.

"Yeah." Harry nodded, "And you're Daphne's sister, Story?"

She made a face, and Harry laughed. "I won't call you that if you don't want. What would you prefer we all call you?"

"Just Astoria. Or Aster, if you need to shorten it."

"Okay, Astoria. It's great to meet you." Harry offered. "Don't worry about your friend. Two of my best friends are in Gryffindor." Harry pointed to the Weasley twins. "We're even rival quidditch players, but we're still friends, and we still hang out a lot." Harry gave the girl a warm smile, and she smiled right back, as Daphne rolled her eyes at her sister.

"Another Hufflepuff." Draco muttered, as a boy moved from the stool to his new house table.

"Didn't catch his name." Harry said, turning to his blonde best friend.

"Benjamin McEwen." Gemma supplied.

Harry was glad when the conversation around him finally died down, all attention back on the stool and the sorting hat. "Meads, Gertrude." Was the next name the Deputy Headmistress called to the stool.

After a short time considering, the hat shouted, "Slytherin!" And another dark haired girl joined them at the Slytherin table.

"Miller, Byron." Was called after Gertrude. A dirty blonde boy took his seat and Harry watched and waited until another shout of "Slytherin!" rang out over the din.

Shortly after another boy was sorted into Ravenclaw, Mildred Peebles joined them at the Slytherin table. Then Harry heard Astoria hold her breath as "Pond, Patricia." was called, and then sorted into "Slytherin!"

It seemed she was also a good friend of Aster and Rachel, and Astoria was definitely glad to have her sit down next to her at the table.

Harry greeted their newest arrival as well, and watched another student get sorted into Gryffindor before McGonagall called, "Randal, Latisha."

The hat cried "Ravenclaw!" the moment it touched her head.

Then McGonagall summoned a blonde girl named, "Rushden, Ophelia." To the stool.

She was also quickly sorted into "Ravenclaw!"

Next was a dark haired girl named, "Shetty, Archana!"

Harry was about to say something to Pansy, when the sorting hat cried out, "Slytherin!" throughout the room.

"Those last few were fast." He muttered to no one in particular.

After her was a new Gryffindor boy named Jack Sloper, and a Hufflepuff named Lyle Summerby, but then Harry got caught up in his conversation, losing interest in the sorting at last, at least until he heard the hat shout, "Slytherin!" once more.

"Another Slytherin?" It was Pansy who asked. A dark haired girl was coming towards their table, offering her new classmates a pretty smile as she took her seat.

Gemma Farley was welcoming the new girl, who rose in her seat to reach across several intervening table settings to shake various hands, including Harry's. "Romilda." She introduced herself again for each hand she shook. "Romilda Vane."

Harry smiled, and turned his attention back to the stool, as the last of the first years took his turn on the stool.

Spencer Whiddon sat calmly under the sorting hat until it gave its final shout across the hall, "Slytherin!" And gave Harry one final new house mate.

Then, McGonagall rolled up the scroll with the list of new students, and took it, the sorting hat, and the stool away.

As she returned and made her way to the staff table, the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, stood up and moved to the podium to address the students.

Dumbledore was kind, wise, and often eccentric, if not outright strange. But Harry had always felt a sense of security around the silver-haired bespectacled Professor. Hogwarts was one of the safest places in the wizarding world, and Harry felt it was largely due to the presence of the Headmaster.

"Welcome!" Dumbledore began, "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and since one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…

"As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, we are currently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business." There was a short pause as Dumbledore gave the room a somewhat uncharacteristically stern look. It wasn't that Dumbledore was rarely serious. But he typically wore an air of whimsy and kindness that was absent today.

"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds." He continued at last, "And while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave the grounds without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises – or even invisibility cloaks," Harry didn't know if he'd only imagined Dumbledore glancing pointedly at him just then. "It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects and to our new Head Boy and Girl to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors.

"On a happier note," said Dumbledore with a touch of his typical enthusiasm returning, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.

"First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." A few students applauded this announcement, particularly a small group of Gryffindor girls that included Hermione Granger.

"He looks extremely shabby, don't you think?" Draco remarked idly, glowering at the new teacher, whose robes were well worn, and threadbare.

"He can't be any worse a teacher than Lockhart," Harry protested, "And he was rich, well dressed, and famous."

"You're right, of course." Draco shrugged. "Guess we'll just have to see what kind of teacher he is."

"I wonder what Snape has against him…" Pansy whispered, drawing their attention to their Potions Professor, who was looking down the staff table with undisguised loathing. Harry had never seen a look quite that intense on Professor Snape's face before. Not even when he'd first come to the school and was certain Snape hated him.

Even the incompetent Quirrel and the posturing Lockhart hadn't engendered that level of enmity in Draco's godfather. And it was no secret that Snape desired the job Dumbledore had just given to Lupin. They must have some history, Harry decided. For all that Lupin had a few grey hairs, and a few more lines than Snape did around his face, they looked pretty close to the same age.

"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore added once the scattered applause and muttering quieted, "Well, I am sorry to tell you, that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

The applause this time was much louder, and again it was loudest from the Gryffindor table, though Harry and his closest Slytherin friends all clapped enthusiastically for the kindly giant Hagrid, who blushed crimson through his thick black beard, and wrung his hands in happy embarrassment.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance, let the feast begin!" At Dumbledore's final words, the plates, platters, and goblets all up and down each of the long tables filled with food. There were gasps from many of the first years, and throughout the hall people began to eat.

As always, the food at Hogwarts was delicious, and despite the grogginess that accompanied every start of term feast, Harry really wanted to congratulate Hagrid on his new teaching position before he went to bed. He knew just how much this would mean to the large man.

As students started leaving, Harry, Draco, and Pansy approached the staff table, "Congratulations, Hagrid!" Harry said happily.

"It's all thanks ter Dumbledore, an' you, 'Arry." Hagrid beamed, his face flushed and a little blurry eyed, just as they were. "Great man, Dumbledore… came straight down to me hut after Professor Kettleburn said he'd had enough. It's what Ah've always wanted."

"What did _I _do?" Harry blinked, seeing answering looks of confusion on his friends' faces.

"Ya cleared me name," he said, seeming surprised that they didn't know already. "When you an' Dumbledore caught the real Heir of Slytherin."

"Who could possibly think you were the Heir of Slytherin?" Pansy asked.

Hagrid shrugged, but looked embarrassed. "Well, I may 'ave bin keepin' a pet at tha school back when the Chamber of Secrets was opened the firs' time. And when they found 'im, they thought Aragog was Slytherin's monster."

"Is that why you were expelled?" Harry asked. The large man blushed even deeper, but nodded. "Well, we're glad we could help."

"No one deserves this more than you," Draco offered, "We're all glad we could have a part, however small, in helping you clear your name."

"Off to bed with you now." McGonagall loomed over them, and the three of them said hasty goodbyes to Hagrid. The Transfiguration professor had a way of making them feel they'd been caught doing something wrong, even when they hadn't.

The trip to the Slytherin wing in the dungeons of the castle was uneventful, and Harry felt drowsiness catching up to him with every step he took. He didn't even remember falling into bed, or kicking off his shoes, but he awoke feeling a certain contentedness. He was back at Hogwarts. This was where he belonged.

* * *

Harry was among the first Slytherins in the great hall for breakfast the following day, his book bag over his shoulder, with his new elective books inside. He was hoping to read up on them while he ate. Just as he was sitting down he noticed Seamus entering the hall, and immediately gave the sandy-haired Irish boy a knowing smirk, earning a heated scowl in return. Teasing Seamus about his reaction to the dementors on the train was going to be a lot of fun, Harry decided.

After Harry had been there a little while, scanning over his new books, Professor Snape came into the room and levitated the Slytherin class schedules along the table. Harry received Draco's and Pansy's as well.

"So, have you had a chance to look over our schedules yet?" Draco asked as he sat down across from Harry a few minutes later.

"Yeah, we've definitely got more classes, and less free time, and no doubt more homework as well, but it should still be manageable, since we'll be spending less time in class for our core subjects," Harry observed. "Looks like our first class today is an elective; Arithmancy, with Professor Vector."

"We had her a couple times for Defense Against the Dark Arts last term, didn't we?" Draco recalled.

"Yeah, she was a little intense, but I liked her." Harry smiled at the memory.

"After that, we have Defense, then Care of Magical Creatures after lunch." Draco read over his own schedule.

By that time Pansy had entered the hall and sat down next to Draco. She smiled when he mentioned Hagrid's class, as she was particularly looking forwards to that.

"Speaking of Hagrid." Harry drew his friends attention to their new professor coming into the hall, a polecat dangling from one hand, and waved as he approached their table on his way to join the rest of the staff.

"Big day." He told them when he got close, "Bin up since five, gettin' everthin' ready. Yer in my firs' ever lesson, along with all the third years. I jus' hope it's okay… Me, a teacher… hones'ly."

"You'll do great!" Harry assured him.

"He looks very… enthusiastic." Pansy noted after Hagrid wandered away.

"I just hope it's nothing too dangerous. I don't think Hagrid is always a very good judge of what is and isn't potentially dangerous." Draco voiced the concern they all shared.

"I don't remember you complaining about the dragon that almost burned his hut down, with us in it," Harry chided.

Draco shrugged, "Okay, just because it's dangerous doesn't mean it isn't also wicked brilliant."

The three of them shared a laugh, and continued chatting amiably while they finished their food. They were in no rush, since the Arithmancy class was on the first floor just off the grand staircase leading up from the entrance hall.

When they arrived, they found that the classroom was well lit, with three tall windows letting in the morning light. Blackboards of all sizes and descriptions hovered near the walls, up near the vaulted ceiling, and around the front of the class, each with diagrams, notes, or complex mathematical formulae on them. Many looked slightly dusty, as if the writing hadn't been changed in quite some time.

Professor Septima Vector arrived just as Harry and Draco were taking their seats, and immediately erased all the writing on one blackboard with a casual sweep of her wand. As more students filed in, she wrote her name on the slate surface.

"Should have known _Granger_ would be in this class." Draco muttered, having spotted the bushy haired know-it-all Gryffindor finding a seat on the other side of the room. She was the last student to arrive.

"I bet she'll be good at Arithmancy." Harry muttered.

"I'm not taking that bet…" Draco retorted swiftly.

"We have a lot to do. So everyone pay attention." Their newest teacher advised. "First off, since this is our first day, I don't intend to give you any homework, there'll be plenty of time for that later. And, based on past experience, I expect few of you to have read through your course books yet. But that's not to say I will allow any slacking off in my classroom. Together, we will learn the wonders of Arithmancy, but this prestigious and complicated branch of magic can be difficult even if you are dedicated and focused. Each new principle builds upon those you've already learned, and if you fall behind you may not be able to catch back up. Arithmancy is not for everyone. Statistically, at least two of you won't continue this class next year, and another four of you will drop the class before your O.W.L.s, but I will not be offended.

"On the other hand, those of you who graduate with an Exceeds Expectations or higher in Arithmancy, will find a breadth of highly coveted positions available to you. A few examples include curse breakers, who often make more than twenty thousand galleons a year, and warders – the counterpoint to a curse breaker in many ways – who also typically earn five or more figures annually."

She paused briefly, her gaze sweeping the classroom before nodding to herself, and turning back to the chalkboard. Underneath her name she wrote a simple equation that included addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Then she turned back to the class, "Without wands, who can solve this?" She asked.

Harry noticed that Hermione's hand shot immediately into the air, as did Blaise's. Harry himself took a moment to look over the problem before raising his own hand. Around the room, 3 more hands went up, all of them belonging to Ravenclaws.

"That's good." Their teacher smiled, "That's almost half the class. Understanding basic mathematic principles is important before we move on to arithmancy itself. So for these first couple lessons, that is what we'll be focusing on. Once I'm confident you all are able to do simple computations without your wands, then I'll let you use them again for more complicated work. Are there any questions?"

Hermione's hand shot back into the air.

"Of course Miss…" Their professor trailed off for a moment, then glanced at a sheet of parchment on her desk, "Hmm, Miss Granger."

"How much regular mathematics will we be learning in Arithmancy?" Hermione asked.

"You're worried that we won't be covering much information that is new to you, I presume?" The teacher countered, and Hermione nodded. "Well, as I said, it is important to grasp basic principles, but as the class is about arithmancy, not mathematics, we won't be retreading much material you've no doubt already spent years learning in muggle school."

Another hand shot up, this one belonging to Blaise. "Why would muggle school spend so much time learning math?" He asked after he was called on.

"Muggles learn basic mathematic skills in junior school. They don't have wands to help them perform complex calculations, so these early skills are vital to them. Oh and, of the people who said they knew how to solve this equation," Vector gestured back to the blackboard, "How many of you attended a junior school before coming to Hogwarts?"

Harry raised his hand again, as did Hermione and the two Ravenclaw girls who'd raised their hands earlier.

"Why would any of us have been expected to attend _muggle_ school?" Draco asked next.

"Some of you were raised by muggles." Vector reminded them, "Whether muggle-born…" She nodded at Hermione, "Or otherwise." She nodded at Harry, and Draco looked mildly chagrined. "But do not worry; those of you who haven't are not at a serious disadvantage. We'll go over the material until you understand the principles, but I honestly do not expect anyone in this class to _need_ to use muggle methods for solving mathematical equations. Any other questions?"

This time, no one raised their hands, so the professor started off with a review of addition, which most people in the class could do readily enough. Subtraction was similarly quick, and thus they spent most of the class period working on multiplication problems.

Vector had them pair off, with students who already knew basic math helping those who didn't. Harry wanted to teach Draco, but Vector had Harry work with Padma Patil instead, who scowled at him nearly the whole time he was explaining, and trying to show her how to solve the equations they were given.

Harry did his best to stay civil, but he'd have been lying if he said she didn't irritate him.

"As I said, no homework today." Professor Vector reminded them when the class was over, "But we should all expect to get started on division the next time we meet. And if there's time, we'll also try to touch on prime numbers, and other numbers of magical significance."

In the halls after class, Harry told Draco about what had happened with Padma.

"Yeah well, _I_ was paired with that Ravenclaw, Goldstein." Draco replied with a sigh.

"Do you think you grasped the multiplication well enough?"

"I think so. Hope we don't have to do more of that next time, though. It's just easier with wands. We shouldn't have to learn to do it by hand." Draco griped.

"I'm sure there's a reason." Harry shrugged.

"Guess we'll see." Draco agreed, mirroring Harry's shrug.

"So Defense is next; what do you suppose Professor Lupin will be like?"

This time, Draco grinned in response before repeating, "Guess we'll see!"

* * *

**Author's Comments:** And, here's Chapter 3, actually finished this one on time, which is encouraging as I was worried I wasn't going to be able to. Little bit shorter than my last few chapters, but then I'm sure no one expected me to keep pumping out those longer chapters indefinitely.

Back to Hogwarts, where the interesting-er stuff should be happening. Not that I don't consider some of the stuff I wrote up for the summer interesting (and hope my readers found interesting too).

Enjoy!

Once again the copyrights for the Harry Potter worlds belong to J.K. Rowling. All original characters depicted here and this story are copyrighted to me.


	4. Snakes, Spirits, and Hippogriffs

**Year 3 – The Prisoner of Azkaban**

**Chapter 4 – ****Snakes, Spirits, and Hippogriffs**

**Chapter Summary:** Harry gets to meet more of his new teachers, in the complicated first days back at school.

**Author:** Khodexus

**Rated T:** For occasional graphic concepts and atmosphere. No cussing, no adult situations, no violence.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any rights for the worlds or characters in Harry Potter. Those rights are owned by Scholastic Publishing Inc and J.K. Rowling. I do own the rights to my original characters depicted here, in as far as they differ from the worlds created by J.K. Rowling.

* * *

When Harry arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, he wondered what – if any – changes Professor Lupin would make to the class curriculum.

He was one of the first students through the door, and their professor wasn't there yet. But before the desks were half filled he appeared, coming down the stairs from his office on the floor above. He looked just as worn and tired as Harry recalled from the feast the previous night, but he shared a friendly smile as he came to the front of the class and set his tattered briefcase down on the desk. "Leave your books in your bags, please. You won't need them today." he told them, then repeated it a few times as the last students entered the room.

"Is everyone here?" Lupin looked once more around the room, then nodded, "Good morning. Today's will be a practical lesson. You'll only need your wands, so please leave your bags at your desk. Everyone ready? Right then. If you'd follow me."

It was obvious to Harry that most of his classmates had taken an instant dislike to Professor Lupin, either following Snape's lead, or else for the same reason Draco had criticized him the previous evening. But their wariness was now being replaced by curiosity as they followed their teacher from the room. Harry wondered where they were going.

Lupin led them first up one floor, then along a corridor, past the always-out-of-order girls bathroom, up one more flights of stairs, a little further along another hallway, and finally arrived at the door to the trophy room. "Now, there's one thing you should know." He paused and turned to face them. "Your lesson starts the moment we step through this door. You see, we caught a somewhat rare magical creature and sealed it within the trophy room this morning, just so we can learn how to defeat such a thing in this very class. Are you all ready?"

To Harry, Lupin's words sounded ominous, but there was a smile in the professor's voice that belied the seriousness of his message, and this more than anything peaked Harry's interest. So far, this was nothing like any lesson they'd received previously, in any of their classes. Harry nodded along with most the rest of the class, then with a nod of his own, Lupin opened the door behind him, and strode ahead of them into the trophy room.

The first thing Harry noticed upon entering the room was that it was a complete mess. It didn't look like a single trophy was left in place, and even a few tables and shelves had been knocked over. But other than the disarray, there was nothing unusual he could see.

"Where's the creature?" Vincent Crabbe asked, looking around in bewilderment.

Just then, one of the still standing shelves began to rattle then rocked back and forth several times. Most of the students quickly backed away from the offending furniture, but then it tipped over, starting to fall right on Greg and Vince.

They shrieked, and ducked, but Lupin's wand flashed and the shelf righted itself before it could harm either of the two burly boys.

"What's going on?!" Daphne Greengrass asked, staring around wildly as a few trophies began to rattle and shift before one large brass quidditch trophy flew across the room to impact the wall with a ringing crash.

Lupin held his wand at the ready, but didn't seem inclined to answer Daphne's question, simply watched them, waiting to see what they would do.

Harry and Draco had their wands in hand by then, and most the rest of their classmates weren't far behind. After several more objects flew across the room, or were knocked over, Pansy gasped, "It's Peeves!" then turned to regard their teacher, "It _is_ Peeves isn't it?"

"Very good, Miss Parkinson." Professor Lupin smiled, "Yes! Today our lesson is about Poltergeists. As I said, a rare magical creature, but Hogwarts happens to have one as a permanent resident, and Peeves has kindly consented to assist with today's lesson."

"Consented?!" Peeves – who looked just like the various ghosts who also inhabited the castle – emerged from a cabinet and floated up towards the ceiling. "Consented indeed! You sealed me in here! I didn't consent to anything! I've half a mind to lodge a formal protest with the headmaster."

Peeves glared down at Lupin, his translucent silvery face wearing an expression of joviality that made his words seem more melodramatic than seriously threatening. "Yes well, you were the one who came in here to make a mess in the first place." Lupin replied calmly, "If you like, you can consider this as _just recompense_."

Peeves spluttered in response to that, and continued right on glaring as Lupin turned away from the poltergeist to address his class once again. "There are any number of ways to deal with a poltergeist, but there are three specific spells that are _particularly_ useful against them."

"What?" Peeves suddenly looked worried.

But Lupin ignored him, "Let's start with something simple. With a show of hands, how many of you can produce a shielding spell?"

Harry raised his hand, and was happy to notice the rest of the class quickly following suit.

"Excellent, would anyone like to demonstrate? How about you, Mister Malfoy?"

Harry had been about to volunteer, but stopped when Draco was called on.

The blonde boy took a few steps forwards to stand in front of Lupin, then drew his wand, and incanted, "Protego!" While swishing his wand in the manner they'd learned dueling the previous year. Immediately a disc of blue light sprang into existence in front of Draco's wand.

"Well done, Malfoy." Lupin praised, "Five points for Slytherin. Now, a regular shield will keep a poltergeist itself at bay, but will not stop a thrown trophy or other mundane objects. For that, we need a slightly more advanced shield. Without wands, I'd like you to all repeat after me; 'Protego Duro'."

Harry dutifully repeated the incantation, as did the rest of the class. "Now, let's get someone to give it a try. Any volunteers? Preferably someone who hasn't cast this charm before, Miss Greengrass, come on up."

Daphne Greengrass moved forward as Draco stepped back, and cleared her throat before raising her wand. She hesitated only a little, before performing the same wand gesture Draco had used, and chanting the new incantation.

The shield she produced was the same bluish color, but it was more opaque, and only shimmered and wavered at the very edges. "Well done, well done, five more points for Slytherin, Miss Greengrass. Now this shield takes a little longer to manifest, which is why it is not as frequently used in duels, but it can protect against a wider range of attacks. Let's give it a try against our poltergeist, shall we?"

Peeves had been skulking near the walls, no doubt looking for a way to escape the room, when he turned back at the sound of Lupin mentioning him. "Our poltergeist?" He protested the professor's use of the term. "Our poltergeist?!"

"Oh, stop grumping, Peeves. I rather think you will enjoy this part." Lupin muttered an incantation Harry had never heard before, and in the next moment the table in front of Peeves was covered with water balloons, all full to bursting. Peeves' face lit up, and he grinned evilly at the assembled students who were hastily readying their wands.

"Have at them, Peeves." Lupin kept his wand in hand, but stepped to the side, giving Peeves a clear field. Three water balloons rose up from the table and hurtled across the room. A half dozen cries of "Protego Duro!" answered, and several shields managed to form in time. One balloon bounced off the edge of Harry's shield and burst right at Draco's feet. Daphne also had her shield up in time to block the projectile aimed at her, but Vincent Crabbe was a little too slow, and he took one right to the face. Immediately the upper half of his robes were drenched, and water splashed at several students standing nearby.

Harry adjusted his shield as another volley came sailing through the air, this time from multiple directions at once. Daphne wasn't quite as quick this time, as this new balloon clipped the shimmering edge of her shield and was deflected to hit her in the knees, instead of her face, while Pansy and Harry's shields overlapped and stopped a waterballoon that would have landed between them. Gregory Goyle stopped most of a water balloon, but some water still dripped over the top of his shield and into his hair. There was a shriek and Millicent Bulstrode's half formed shield disappeared the moment she took a water balloon to the chest.

The attack continued, and while Harry managed to block every single balloon aimed at him, he'd still been splashed by any number of projectiles by the time Peeves ran out of ammunition. Draco was soaked from the knees down, and Pansy's hair was dripping, but her socks were miraculously dry.

Most the class had fared a bit worse, and only Tracy Davis had avoided the water almost completely, save for a few damp flecks along the hem of her robes.

"I think you all have the general hang of that charm." Lupin observed, and Harry was happy to note that their teacher had not escaped completely unscathed even from his position at the side of the room.

"Tepidaerus." Lupin waved his wand, and a warm wind began circulating the room. "Now, next I'm going to teach you a spell that while not precisely a defense, will prevent a poltergeist from pestering you quite as badly as it might otherwise. The incantation for this one is 'Phasma Silencio'. Let's all try it, without wands."

Peeves groaned when he heard the incantation, but his humor overall seemed to have improved, and he settled down to watch while juggling three of the smaller trophies.

Harry repeated the incantation with the rest of the class, and Lupin had them do it twice more before he showed them the wand gesture that accompanied the charm. It was a little more complicated than Harry was used to, but after several tries, Lupin seemed confident they were all doing it correctly.

Lupin moved to the side of the room once more, and had them ready their wands. "Now, Peeves, I think you have a general idea how to test this particular charm?"

"Of course, of course. Let's get on with it." Peeves responded dramatically while dropping the trophies and moving to hover in the middle of the room.

Lupin had the class form a line, instructing one person at a time stepping forward to try the spell. Pansy was first, and she firmly set her jaw before raising her wand to cast her spell, "Phas…"

"Boo!" Peeve's surged forwards at the last second, and Pansy jumped, her spell going awry before she could finish it.

The poltergeist bent over in the air, laughing maniacally, but Pansy's eyes narrowed, and she spoke again in a sterner tone, "Phasma Silencio!" With a flick of her wand tip, there was a ripple in the air between them, and Peeve's laughter was instantly cut off.

Almost immediately the poltergeist turned upright and glared mutely at Pansy, then at Lupin.

"Very good, Miss Parkinson." Their Professor praised, "Five more points for Slytherin. Now, who's next?"

He waved his wand, and Peeve's voice was returned. The poltergeist dove swiftly into a tirade against, "Looney loopy Lupin." And was once again cut off as Theodore Nott successfully cast the new charm, earning yet another mute glare.

It took Vincent Crabbe two tries to silence Peeves, and Gregory Goyle four. Then Draco silenced Peeves almost before he'd opened his mouth, and finally it was Harry's turn. "Famous ickle Potter going to…"

But Harry didn't hesitate, he flicked his wand and spoke calmly, "Phasma Silencio." And Peeves was once again struck dumb.

He didn't bother glaring this time, just sighed silently and idly waited for Lupin to un-silence him again so Daphne Greengrass could try her hand at it.

When Milicent Bulstrode, the last member of the class, cut him off after the second try, Lupin gave a short round of applause, and gave the class another five points. "Now we move on to the final and trickiest charm I am going to teach you today, 'Depulso Spiritus'…"

"You wouldn't honestly teach them… that?!" Peeves said, in real distress now.

"Don't worry, Peeves." Lupin replied.

"Why? What does it do?" Pansy asked eagerly.

"Who can answer Miss Parkinson's question?" Their professor asked.

Harry raised his hand, "It's a charm for banishing poltergeists," he explained, once Professor Lupin called on him. He quite distinctly recalled McGonagall using it once the previous year.

"Not just poltergeists." Lupin added, "But ghosts and several other ghost-like beings as well. Five more points. Now who can tell me what the precise effects of the charm are?"

No one else had an answer for Lupin's question, so after a moment he continued, "In simple terms, as Harry…"

"I'm not just going to stand here and let you…"

"Phasma Silencio." Lupin calmly silenced Peeves once more, and then continued talking as if he hadn't been interrupted, "As Harry explained, it banishes a poltergeist or similar spirit for a time depending on varying factors. Peeves, for instance, is somewhat resistant to this type of charm, as he has haunted Hogwarts for a very long time. However, the thing that makes this spell particularly tricky is that it is technically a curse. Who can tell me why this is significant?" This news didn't seem to mollify Peeves in the least, though at least he was only resignedly sulking, not trying to throw things at them again.

It was Pansy who raised her hand this time, "It means it's malicious, and potentially harmful?" She guessed.

"Most curses are that, but so are many jinxes and hexes," Lupin corrected. "Anyone else? Mister Zabini?"

"You have to… want it?" Blaise' answer was hesitant.

"That's correct. Five points for Slytherin. The difference between a curse, and most other charms, is that a curse requires an effort of will. It's not enough to know the incantation and wand gesture. You need to know what the curse does, and why. And, you have to honestly desire to inflict that on your enemy. In the case of this particular curse, banishing a ghost or poltergeist is uncomfortable, and has been described as frightening. No one is entirely certain where a being goes when it is banished, but it is safe to say that it is not a nice place.

"Now, obviously we can only banish Peeves once. So I'm going to let each member of the class take a turn at the spell, until one of you manages it, but first, let's practice the incantation without wands."

They tried it all together, and Lupin corrected some pronunciations before showing them the wand gesture, and finally had them form a line once more. "Ready Peeves?" He asked, and the poltergeist made a rude gesture and rolled his eyes before moving into place in front of the line.

Pansy went first again, and while it looked and sounded good to Harry, nothing happened to Peeves' form hovering above them. She sighed and moved to the back of the line as the next student stepped forward.

After each cry of "Depulso Spiritus!" the class would hold it's breath for a moment, until realizing it hadn't worked. Peeves frowned at each student who came to the front, and even went so far as to make pitiful faces, possibly to engender sympathy and make it harder for them to muster the necessary will.

When it was Harry's turn, he tried focusing his mind like he did in occlumency, thinking about all the reasons he had to dislike Peeves; all the times he'd wanted the poltergeist to just disappear. "Depulso Spiritus," he said sternly, and he thought he saw Peeves' form wavering at the edges, but then nothing.

When Draco cast the spell, Peeves definitely blurred a little, but ultimately remained in place. As the end of the line got closer, Peeves began looking a little more confident, and even smirked at a couple of them.

It was Daphne who finally managed the charm on her first try, causing Peeves to disappear with a faint pop.

"That'll be ten points for Slytherin, well done Miss Greengrass." Lupin praised.

Daphne just shrugged, but Harry at least thought it was impressive, and was glad for the points.

With Peeves gone there wasn't a lot left to do. As they left the room Lupin turned at the threshold and swished his wand while incanting, "Prestidigitonium." All the shelves, tables and trophies righted themselves one by one until the room was in perfect order.

"_Definitely_ need to learn that one before the next time Filch gives me detention…" Theodore murmured appreciatively.

Lupin led them back to their classroom so they could grab their bags, then he got their attention once more, "Now, there's one thing I wanted to explain to you before you go," he began, "I mentioned that a curse requires definite will. But willpower also effects the potency of a great many spells, not just curses. In the case of banishment, desire and effort can prolong the effective duration. In addition, as you gain proficiency and familiarity with this type of spell, you'll be able to banish spirits for longer periods, though Peeves does have a resistance due to his age and his ties with the castle."

"Well, how long will Peeves be banished for?" Millicent Bulstrode cut in.

Lupin didn't chastise her for interrupting, but merely shrugged, "I cannot say for certain – Miss Greengrass might be a prodigy for all I know – but I would hazard, that we may see Peeves back and up to his old tricks within a few hours. Any further questions?"

Blaise raised his hand, "Well, how long could _you_ banish him for?" he asked after he was called on.

"Maybe a day or two." Lupin replied, "Longer, if I was _truly_ upset with him."

Much of the class was a little subdued, but there were still a couple more questions. Blaise wanted to know the details of banishing spells in general, and Daphne asked about the improved shielding charm. As Lupin had said before, it seemed not a lot was known about where creatures went when they were banished, as such spells did not work on living beings. And the shielding charm added a physical component to the shield that was already designed to defend against magical and ephemeral effects.

They continued with that line of conversation for a few minutes longer, but even so, they still had a little time to kill before the class period was over.

Just before the end of the class, Lupin said lightly, "Very well done, everyone. Excellent lesson. For homework there is a chapter on ghosts and spirits in your books, with a section on poltergeists that goes into a little more detail on what we learned here today… summarize the chapter for me, to be handed in on Monday."

Harry and the others left to go to lunch. Harry thought over the lesson, their new teacher, and his failure to banish Peeves. He wondered if there was anything more he could have done to manage it. He knew he had to start giving the impression of someone who wasn't afraid of a little dark magic. And a curse to banish a poltergeist should have been relatively easy, compared to other curses. If Harry couldn't even manage that, how was he going to fool Voldemort, when he inevitably returned?

* * *

By the time Lunch had ended, Harry and his friends were already on their way down the hillside from the castle, heading towards Hagrid's hut. The grass was still damp from yesterday's storm, and the air was heavy with the fresh scents of the coming autumn.

Hagrid emerged from his hut just as Harry's group – the first to arrive – were approaching the front door. Hagrid's large boar hound, Fang, trotted out the door just behind the giant man in his great moleskin coat.

"There ya are." Hagrid smiled at the five of them, "Eager ter start?"

"Definitely. What have you got planned?" Draco asked.

"It's a surprise." Hagrid beamed then greeted the next couple students to come down the lawns.

When Harry saw both Ron Weasley and Dean Thomas coming towards the hut, he reflexively scanned for Seamus, the leader of their little Gryffindor gang, but was surprised and pleased to note that the Irish bully wasn't there. Then he smiled when Susan Bones arrived alongside her friend Hannah Abbott, although their fellow Hufflepuff, Zacharias Smith, was not so welcome a sight.

Finally, a trio of Ravenclaw girls came down from the castle, only one of which Harry recognized; Padma Patil, who moved to join the Gryffindor girls Lavender Brown, Hermione Granger, and Padma's twin sister, Parvati.

When the bells rang distantly from the castle, Hagrid waved them all to follow him, "C'mon now, get a move on! Got a real treat fer yeh today! Great lesson comin' up. Ever'one 'ere? Right, follow me!"

At first, Harry thought Hagrid was leading them into the Forbidden Forest, but quickly realized they were just skirting the edge of the forest, until they came to an empty paddock surrounded by a low fence not dissimilar to the one he and Draco had helped Hagrid construct to house the infant dragon, Norbert, in Harry's first year at Hogwarts.

"Ever'one gather 'round the fence here." Hagrid continued, "Tha's it – make sure yeh can see – now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books…"

"Uh… Hagrid, how do we open them without them biting us?" Draco asked as he glanced at his copy of the "Monster Book of Monsters" – still bound in one of Harry's gift ribbons – which seemed to quiver hungrily under his gaze.

Harry looked around and everyone else seemed to be wondering the same thing. All had found different ways of keeping the books shut.

"Eh?" Hagrid turned back to regard them curiously, then added, "Hasn' – hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?"

"Opening them is not honestly the problem." Harry hastily added. "It's just that when they open they bite."

"Oh, that… jus' got ter _stroke_ 'em." He explained, "Look –" He reached for the nearest book, which happened to belong to Hermione Granger, and proceeded to remove the spellotape binding it shut, then stroked one large finger down the spine as it gnashed at his other hand. The result was immediate and impressive, the book fell open and lay docilely in his hand, making a sound akin to 'crooning'.

"Stroke the spine, why didn't _we_ think of that?" Ron mumbled under his breath as he attempted to mimic Hagrid's actions with his own book.

Hagrid was looking suddenly uncertain, and Harry wanted his lesson to go well, so he piped up, "Actually, it makes a lot of sense," he said, and gave their teacher what he hoped was an encouraging smile.

Hagrid was about to say something else when Neville's book started snapping in his face before he could properly subdue it. Dean Thomas had to rescue him before the book chewed his tie off.

"Right then…" Hagrid got their attention once more, "Ever'one got they're books open now?" There were nods and chimes of 'yes' all around, and Hagrid started across the paddock, "Time ter meet yer magical creatures!" He added, his demeanor already rebounding from the brief distraction.

"You don't suppose he's gotten ahold of another dragon, do you?" Harry asked Draco in a soft tone.

"He wouldn't… couldn't have… would he…?"

"Dunno, maybe we'll…"

"Oooooh!" Lavender Brown's delighted squeal cut into their musings as Hagrid was seen emerging from the forest with something reminiscent of winged horses, except that they had the heads and forelegs of giant eagles.

Harry had to privately agree with Lavender's assessment. The creatures – whatever they were – _were_ beautiful. Not that he was going to say as much in front of his rivals, or his friends for that matter.

Each of the beasts wore a leather collar attached to a chain leash, all of which met together in Hagrid's enormous hands as they preceded him to the edge of the paddock, where their professor tethered the leashes to the fence.

"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid announced, his arms wide to encompass all five of the things, "Beau'iful aren' they?" Each was a different color, with enormous eagle feathers blending smoothly into horse hair, and Harry nodded along with many of his classmates, but kept a respectful distance from their powerful looking beaks and long razor-sharp talons.

"Anyone want ter come a bit closer?" Hagrid asked, beaming at them each in turn.

At first, nothing happened. No one wanted to be the first to approach the beasts. But Harry sighed, determined that Hagrid's class wasn't going to be a failure, and he took a step forward. A moment later, Pansy joined him, then Draco, Greg and Vince. Not to be outdone, several more classmates approached cautiously, starting with Ron Weasley and Dean Thomas.

"Not too fast." Hagrid cautioned, "Firs' thing yeh want to know about hippogriffs is that they're mighty proud creatures. Easily offended, they are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh ever do."

More nods went around the assembled students, and Harry thought he saw Dean take a step back. But Ron, for his part, stayed firmly planted.

"Yeh always wait fer tha hippogriff ter make the firs' move." Hagrid was saying, "It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward 'him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch 'im." Harry thought a couple of the girls looked more attentive at this announcement. "If 'e doesn' bow, then get away sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt."

"Shouldn't we have started on something a little bit… less dangerous?" Ron interrupted, a note of worry in his voice.

"You scared?" Draco taunted, grinning wickedly.

Harry sighed, but Hagrid cut in before they could trade any more jibes. "Yeh'll be perfectly all right if yeh listen ter me. Hippogriffs can be dangerous, but only if ya dunno what yer doin'. Now, who wants ter go first?"

Much of the class backed away a couple of steps, but Draco immediately stepped forward, drawing gasps from his closest friends. "I'll show you how it's done, Weasley." Draco taunted over his shoulder.

"Good man, Draco!" Hagrid grinned widely at him.

As Draco was climbing over the fence, Harry gave him a concerned look, but the blonde boy just smiled and shrugged.

Once on the other side, Hagrid nodded to himself, "Righ' – let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."

Draco stood out of easy reach while Hagrid unchained the steel-grey hippogriff from the fence and then removed its collar completely after leading it a short distance away from the others. Harry felt Pansy's hand take hold of his and she held her breath while Hagrid backed away, leaving Draco to face the hippogriff directly.

"Easy, now, Draco," Hagrid's voice was deliberately soft, which didn't ease Harry's nerves at all, "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink… Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much…"

Buckbeak was looking at Draco sideways, so that one orange eye faced directly towards him. Draco stood perfectly still and – Harry could only assume – unblinking.

"That's it. Good!" Hagrid smiled broadly, "Now, go ahead and bow."

Draco hesitated only a moment before shifting his feet and dipping into a courtly bow much like Harry had seen him use asking the girls to dance at his memorable birthday party. A moment later, the hippogriff followed suit, bending at its front knees and sinking into an unmistakable bow.

"Well done, Draco!" Hagrid's enthusiasm startled Harry and those around him, but Draco didn't flinch. "Now yeh can touch 'im, go on and pat his beak."

Draco reached forward slowly, inch by inch, until his hand came to rest on the creature's beak. When it stayed still for him, he began to pat it carefully. The hippogriff's feathers fluffed out around its neck, its eyes closed, and it leaned into the caress, obviously enjoying it.

The rest of the students began to applaud, except for Ron and Dean, of course, and Hagrid was looking extremely encouraged, "Righ' then, Draco. I reckon he migh' let yeh ride 'im!"

"You sure there's not some step in-between?" Draco asked, as he kept patting the beak.

"Nah, yer fine. Unless yeh dunno wan' ter ride 'im?"

"No, I can try. I've ridden granians." Draco replied.

"Hippogriffs'r a bit differen'." Hagrid warned, "Mind yeh don' pull any o' his feathers out. 'E won' like that…"

Draco moved to the creature's side, and Buckbeak spread one wing and foreleg out to assist him mounting. A moment later he was astride the beast, just in front of the wing joint. He hesitated briefly, scanning the creature's feathered neck before slipping his arms around it. And not a moment too soon, as Hagrid slapped the horse-like hindquarters and sent the hippogriff careening forward to launch itself awkwardly into the air.

A creature that size did not, it seemed, take off gracefully, but once airborne it soared smoothly through the air, circling over the paddock, the nearby lake, and part of the forest before tucking in its wings about halfway to descend back to where the class stood watching.

Draco was grinning ear to ear, and he slipped easily from the hippogriff's back even before Hagrid came to help him down. "Great work, Draco!" the teacher praised.

"See? No trouble at all." Draco shot towards Harry, but Harry suspected the words were mostly for Ron's benefit. The red-head's ears turned almost as crimson as his hair.

After that, it seemed everyone wanted a try with the hippogriffs, and they each climbed over the fence while Hagrid unfastened the leather collars one by one. Harry, Pansy, Greg and Vince took over Buckbeak, while other members of the class were sorted a few to each of the creatures.

Harry let Pansy take her turn first, and simply stood nearby in case she needed help. He wondered if it was a good idea for Hagrid to have everyone going at once. He thought it might be tricky – even for the giant of a man – if more than one hippogriff became agitated at the same time. But Harry's fears were proving to be rather unfounded as Pansy got Buckbeak to let her pet him, then mount him and ride through the air much as Draco had.

Then it was Harry's turn.

Harry bowed, trying to keep eye contact, and felt his eyes water as he strove not to blink. Buckbeak seemed agitated, however, and he started to back off, but the hippogriff finally settled down, and decided to bow back. Harry grinned widely, but then realized he now had to touch the thing.

He moved forwards carefully, worrying that at any moment its beak would take his hand clean off, but then had to smile when he finally started petting it and Buckbeak leaned into his hand, just as it had for Draco and Pansy. "Now you get to fly it!" Pansy reminded him in an excited whisper.

Harry nodded, and moved to mount as Buckbeak obligingly held out his wing and foreleg. Harry knew a moment of panic once he was in place, seeing no good spot to hold onto without potentially tugging at feathers, but when Buckbeak started to take off, he instinctively wrapped his arms around its neck and held on for dear life.

He realized very quickly that a hippogriff's grace in the air was misleading from the ground. Staying seated took everything Harry had during his quick turn around in the air, though when he heard Padma Patil screech in combined fright and delight not too far away, he opened his eyes to spot her flying a brownish red hippogriff spiraling upwards as Buckbeak came down for his landing.

By the time his feet were back on the ground Harry had two strong opinions. First, riding a hippogriff wasn't too bad once you got used to it; they really were beautiful creatures. Second, he much preferred flying on his broom.

As Harry caught his breath, he looked around just in time to see Padma's hippogriff coming in for a landing, at nearly the same moment another hippogriff was taking off with Susan Bones. But his attention was claimed shortly when Gregory Goyle started bowing to Buckbeak.

Harry and Draco both offered advice, but Buckbeak just didn't seem to want to bow back. They spent the next five minutes trying to coax Greg and Buckbeak to cooperate, until Hagrid came over to them.

"Well, 'least he's not tryin' ter kill ya." Hagrid said, in his friendly manner.

"Yeah well, they look dangerous, but none of them have tried to kill anyone yet." Vincent pointed out. "You're just trying to scare us, I bet. They're just big dumb pushovers."

One moment, everything had been fine, but in the next, Greg had been knocked aside, and Hagrid was in between Buckbeak and Vincent, while the hippogriff reared back, its eyes narrowing as it tried to figure out how to get at the offending boy. Hagrid kept it at bay, but all of the Slytherins took several steps back, including Harry.

"You're a royal idiot, you know that?" Draco snarled at Vince.

Elsewhere, the other students had turned to watch, all of them backing away from their own hippogriffs, except for Lavender who was still in the air.

Finally, Hagrid got Buckbeak to back off, and sent him trotting away to the other end of the paddock. "Ah tol'ya, never insult a hippogriff!" Hagrid grumbled, obviously upset, but surprisingly not mad, that Harry could tell.

Vince looked chagrined, especially with Harry and Draco both glaring at him, and he nodded to Hagrid.

"I think my arm is broken…" Greg muttered from where he'd fallen.

"Wha'? Oh, let me see." Hagrid knelt down next to Greg, and very gently for such a large man, examined his arm. "It jus' looks sprained at the wrist, to me, but ya should go ter see Madam Pomfrey anyways."

"I'll take him." Vincent offered. "Not like Buckbeak's going to let me near him _now_."

"Pro'lly for the best." Hagrid nodded.

Harry, Draco, and Pansy also elected to go with Greg and Vince up to the hospital wing, while Hagrid turned back to the rest of his class.

"I'm sorry, Greg." Vince offered.

"You should apologize to Hagrid, and Buckbeak." Harry admonished.

"I suppose." Vincent did not look convinced.

"I agree with Harry." Draco and Pansy said, almost at the same time, then laughed lightly when they realized what they'd done.

"Well, overall, I think Hagrid did a smashing job. Don't you agree?" Harry added, turning to Draco.

"Overall? Yeah, I think so." Draco smiled back.

* * *

The visit to the hospital wing was brief. Pomfrey needed only a cursory inspection to assure Greg that his arm wasn't broken, but gave him a potion to rid him of any lingering tenderness in his wrist just the same. Then the five of them headed back to the Slytherin Wing in the dungeons of the castle since Care of Magical Creatures would be over by the time they could get back out to the paddock.

Harry and his friends had two free periods following Hagrid's class, so Harry decided to use the opportunity to introduce Pansy to his birthday present from Draco. When Harry got into his dorm room, Agrias was already out of her burrows and peering through the glass of her tank, evidently curious about her new environment. "Eating time?" She asked in a hopeful hiss.

"Not yet, want you to meet someone," Harry told her.

"Meet someone for eating?" Agrias stared at him unblinking.

"No, meet not eat. You get to make a new friend." Harry countered.

She was still learning, and while normally her slips didn't bother him overly, he didn't like the idea of his snake becoming a ravenous monster interested only in eating people. That reminded him just a little too much of the basilisk he'd encountered the previous year; the monster from the Chamber of Secrets.

After gathering up Agrias from the tank, and letting her wrap herself around several of his fingers, he walked back out into the common room, where Pansy and Draco were waiting.

Harry had to fight not to grin when Pansy went very stiff the moment he walked into the room. "Um, Harry?" Her nervous inquiry drew the attention of most the rest of the room's occupants.

"I thought that had to be a snake on your nightstand!" Blaise approached in an instant to get a closer look. Agrias curled a little tighter against Harry's hand, but otherwise simply watched the dark skinned boy observing her.

"When did you get a snake?" Daphne asked, also coming close. Pansy seemed to overcome her initial shock and also approached cautiously, as did Greg and Vince. It was mostly third years in the common room, but a couple of the sixth year students also seemed interested as they watched the impromptu gathering.

"Agrias was a birthday present from Draco. He just didn't think the noise of the party would be good for her or something, so he gave her to me afterward." Harry explained.

"Oh, that actually reminds me." Tracey Davis piped up from a little behind Daphne. She dashed off in the direction of her dorm room before Harry could reply, and he shared a brief bewildered look with Draco, who merely shrugged.

"So, can one of us hold your snake?" Blaise asked after a moment, holding out a hand. Agrias flicked her tongue out at him to test his scent.

"Yeah, but you have to be really gentle with her, she's still a baby." Harry cautioned, and held Agrias out over Blaise' hand. The shift in position seemed to mildly disorient her, and then she looked back at Harry, wondering what this was about.

"He wants to hold you," Harry explained, "So just move onto his hand like you've been curled up on mine."

"Was that… parseltongue?" Blaise asked, wide eyed. While it had become public knowledge that Harry was a parselmouth – possessing the ability to speak snake language – most of his friends hadn't actually heard him do it.

Harry just nodded, since he sometimes had trouble slipping between English and Parseltongue. "What did you say?" Daphne asked while Agrias moved to curl around Blaise' hand.

Harry concentrated on Daphne's face, hoping that would help him make the shift back to English. "I just explained that Blaise wanted to hold her."

Daphne merely nodded.

It wasn't long before Tracey returned, with a brightly wrapped present in hand. "So uh…" She hesitated briefly, but then Pansy gestured for her to go ahead, and she nodded, stepping up in front of Harry and holding out the gift. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your party, Harry. But I did get you a present. Happy Birthday!"

"Thank you, Tracey." Harry beamed as he accepted the gift, and began to unwrap it.

Inside were two boxes, and he had to grin when he saw the common theme, "Gobstones and gobstoppers? That's brilliant!"

"Thanks." Tracey smiled and blushed prettily.

"What are gobstoppers?" Draco asked.

"Oh they're a type of muggle candy. You can suck on them for hours before they dissolve completely." Harry explained. "I've only had them once or twice, but I've always enjoyed them."

"I'm glad you like them." Tracey's smile widened. "I didn't know if you were into gobstones at all, but I'm in the gobstones club, and your mother still holds the Hogwarts record, so I thought you might appreciate a set."

"Wow, I didn't even know she played." Now it was Harry's turn to smile more broadly. "I know the rules, but never had a chance to play before now."

"Well I hope you enjoy it. If you like, I can play with you when we both have time."

"That'd be great! Thanks Tracey." Harry set the gobstones aside for the moment, and opened up the box of gobstoppers. There were dozens of small round candies inside. He took out a few and offered one to each of his friends to try, and offered one to Tracey as well.

"I think I should put your snake down before eating any candy…" Blaise said, and Harry chuckled when he saw how Agrias had wrapped herself into a little pretzel around his fingers. "I'll put her away. I think she's had enough excitement for one afternoon, anyway." Harry coaxed Agrias back into his hand, and then took her to her tank in his room before returning to his friends, and see what they thought of the candy.

His first day back at Hogwarts had turned out to be really fun. And he was looking forwards to the next two days. They only had History of Magic and Herbology on Friday, but then on Saturday they'd get to see what Study of Ancient Runes would be like.

All in all, a great start to the school year.

* * *

**Author's Comments:** Well here it is, once again on time, mostly. Wanted to get this posted a little earlier today, but was still working on some last minute edits. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, as I got to put a different spin on the Buckbeak situation, and writing Lupin's class was really interesting to me. For those of you wondering why no boggart, well, that was discovered almost a week later, before what would have been his first class with the Gryffindor third years. I figure he tried to do something a little unique for each of his first classes, and for Harry's, this is what he came up with.

I also feel compelled to put a note in here about Agrias. Snakes like Agrias secrete oils that are very mildly toxic to humans. And the oils humans secret onto their skin are mildly toxic to many snakes as well. As such, it's typically a good idea to wash your hands before and after handling a snake, especially a baby snake like her. However, Wizards don't really seem to worry about such things, and I thought it was a detail that probably wouldn't add anything to the overall story. In particular if you handle a snake and then eat something after, like candy, it's a really good idea to wash hands in between.

So anyways, hope you all thoroughly enjoyed this chapter, and wish me luck getting the next one finished in time too.

Once again the copyrights for the Harry Potter worlds belong to J.K. Rowling. All original characters depicted here and this story are copyrighted to me.


End file.
